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EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES 
FOR  CHILDREN 


EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES 
FOR  CHILDREN 

THE  STORY  OF  THEIR  ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH 

BY 

JANET  PENROSE  TREVELYAN 


WITH   A   PREFACE  BY 

MRS.   HUMPHRY  WARD 


47893 


NEW  YORK 

E.  P.   DUTTON  AND  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


o^\ 


It- 


TO 

B.    C. 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS 


J^    I.  Origins   of  the    Movement — The    Children's    Recreation 

School  at  the  Passmore  Edwards  Settlement  .         .       I 

II.  The  First  School  Play  Centres,  1904-7  .         .         .12 

III.  The  Struggle  with  Finance — Appeals  for  New  Centres — 

Children  under  Probation  Officers — The  Police — The 
Parents— Growing  Attendances — A  Centre  at  Work — 
The  Play  Centre  Exhibition,  191 3— The  Outbreak  of 
War 26 

IV.  The  Centres  in  War-time — Financial  Anxiety — Economies 
— Air  Raids — The  Centres  carry  on — The  Conversion 
of  the  Board  of  Education — The  Board's  Memorandum.     45 

The  London  Centres  after  the  Grant — Expansion  to  Pre- 
sent Numbers — Increase  in  Cost — Change  to  the  One- 
session  Time-table — Old  and  New  Centres — Italian 
Centres — Jews'  Free  School — -People's  Palace — The 
London  County  Council  comes  into  Line      .         .  65 

VI.  The  Play  Centre  Movement  in  the  Great  Provincial  Towns: 
Manchester — Sal  ford — Liverpool — Birmingham — New- 
port— Bradford — Leeds— Sunderland — Norwich  .         .     83 

VII.  Vacation  Schools  and  Organised  Playgrounds — 1.  The 
Vacation  School  at  the  Passmore  Edwards  Settlement — 
2.  Other  Vacation  Schools  in  London — 3.  Vacation 
Schools  Outside  London — 4.  Playgrounds  Organised  by 
the  Play  Centres  Committee  and  by  the  London  County 
Council       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .120 


viii    EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 
APPENDICES 

PAGE 

I.    Hints  on  the  Organisation  of  a  Play  Centre  (including  the 

Regulations  issued  by  the  Board  of  Education)    .         .14" 

II.  Some  Hall  and  Playground  Games   (collected  by  Miss 

Constance  Craig)         .         .         .         .         .         .         .   153 

III.   Mr.  Holland's  Report  on  the  Vacation  School,  Passmore 
Edwards  Settlement,  for  1903      .... 

IV.  Attendance-charts  of  the  Evening  Play  Centres  Committee, 

191 8-19 179 

V.  Total  Attendances  at  the  London  Play  Centres,  1907-18  .    183 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Passmore  Edwards  Settlement   .        .        .  Frontispiece 

FACING    PAGE 

Toy-making .4 

Singing  Games. 

Playground  Cricket 20 

Poplar  Play  Centre — Football  Club. 

Woodwork 24 

Basket-work  Class. 

Singing  Games 30 

Playground  Drill — Ratcliff  Centre. 

Gymnastics 36 

Singing  Games. 

In  Position  for  Ground  Handball 40 

Cobbling  Class. 

Rifle  Drill 54 

Vacation  School 120 

Vacation  School 124 

Peeps  into  a  Playground 134 

A  Corner  of  a  Playground 142 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

IT  is  now  twenty-two  years  since  the  first  Play 
Centre  was  opened  in  England,  at  the  newly- 
built  Passmore  Edwards  Settlement  in  Tavistock 
Place.  It  began  with  a  few  score  children  coming 
after  school  hours,  and  on  Saturday  mornings  for 
games,  reading,  painting,  musical  drill,  and  so  on 
— amusements  which  a  small  Committee  provided, 
by  way  of  testing  which  might  prove  the  stronger 
— the  street  habit  of  the  St.  Pancras  school  children 
living  in  the  tenement  houses  of  the  district,  or 
those  simple  but  delightful  attractions,  occupations, 
and  hobbies,  which  every  well-to-do  home,  where 
children  are  loved  and  cared  for,  and  there  is 
some  leisure  and  space,  offers  to  its  boys  and  girls, 
when  school  hours  are  over  for  the  day. 

Mrs.  Trevelyan's  book  gives  an  account  of  the 
stages  by  which  this  small  effort  has  grown  into  a 
movement  which  now  bids  fair,  within  a  few  years, 
to  cover  the  whole  country,  so  far  at  any  rate  as  all 
the  large  centres  of  population  are  concerned.  The* 
question  of  rural  Play  Centres  has  still  to  be  experi- 
mented with.      I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  they 


xii    EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

may  be  only  less  important  than  town  Play  Centres. 
But  we  are  not  yet  in  a  position  to  discuss  them. 

As  to  Play  Centres  for  children  in  towns,  it  is  a 
perpetual  and  growing  delight  to  those  of  us  who 
have  watched  this  things  from  the  bea-innincr  to  see 
how  it  is  now  affecting  individuals  and  public  bodies 
to  whom  its  principles  and  possibilities  are  still  new. 
A  Director  of  Education  under  an  important 
Northern  Authority,  in  a  recent  Memorandum  on 
the  establishment  of  Play  Centres  in  his  City, 
writes  :  "  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  movement  is 
fraught  with  the  utmost  possibilities  for  the  benefit 
of  the  rising  generation.  If  carried  to  a  successful 
issue  it  is  bound  to  affect  profoundly  and  for  good 
the  whole  generation,  for  its  purpose  is  nothing  less 
than  to  offer  to  all  children  the  benefits  of  the  well- 
ordered  home,  and  so  fulfil  the  aim  which  is 
admittedly  that  of  a  national  policy  of  education, 
viz.,  to  afford  equal  opportunities  for  all.  Further- 
more, the  socially  civilising  influence  of  the  Play 
Centre  will  provide  just  the  supplement  that  is 
required  to  the  intellectual  discipline  of  the  Day 
School." 

Such  is  the  testimony  of  one  of  the  ablest  officials 
now  engaged  in  provincial  education,  as  he  watches 
the  first  steps  of  the  movement  in  his  own  town, 
and  realises  its  wonderful  possibilities. 

What  is  the  testimony  of  the  teachers  ? 

At  one  of  the  London  Centres  the  headmaster 
of  the  school  came  recently  to  the  little  "  Display  " 


PREFATORY  NOTE  xiii 

which  the  children  gave  for  their  parents  one  even- 
ing. He  said  he  had  long  been  wanting  to  see 
what  the  Centre  was  like,  and  he  was  charmed. 
What  struck  him  most,  he  said,  was  the  happiness 
and  freedom  of  the  children  ;  he  could  hardly  believe 
that  many  of  them  were  the  same  children  he  sazu  in 
school  every  day.  This  he  repeated  twice,  evidently 
being  greatly  impressed  by  it. 

And  some  months  ago  one  of  my  Secretaries 
from  the  London  office,  who  for  more  than  twenty 
years  has  rendered  invaluable  aid  to  the  cause,  went 
down,  at  their  own  request,  to  address  a  body  of 
teachers  in  a  great  northern  town  where  Play 
Centres  have  been  recently  started.  The  teachers 
to  whom  she  spoke  had  most  of  them  been  working 
in  the  new  Centres,  and  she  was  struck  by  the 
enthusiasm,  the  astonishment,  almost  the  bewilder- 
ment, of  these  keen  and  public-spirited  men  and 
women,  as  one  after  another  testified  to  the  interest 
and  fascination  of  the  new  work,  and  of  the  develop- 
ments that  seemed  to  be  implied  in  it. 

And  the  children  ?  They  show  what  they  feel 
about  the  Play  Centres  by  the  way  in  which  they 
crowd  them  wherever  they  are  opened,  and  by  the 
distress  among  the  poor  little  souls — a  distress  fully 
shared  by  the  Play  Centre  workers — when  night 
after  night,  they  have  to  be  turned  away  from  a 
Centre  in  South  or  East  London  because  the  school 
halls  and  class-rooms  where  the  Centre  is  held  are 
already  overcrowded.     But  lately  at  one  or  two  of 


xiv   EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

the  Manchester  Centres,  the  children  were  asked 
why  they  attended  the  Centres.  The  answers 
given  are  evidently  spontaneous  and  sincere,  and 
set  one  thinking  : — 

(a)  "  I  used  to  sit  in  the  house,  having  nothing 
to  do  nor  nowhere  to  go.  One  night  somebody 
told  me  that  a  Play  Centre  had  been  opened.  I 
ran  off  at  once.  When  I  got  there  it  had  begun. 
When  I  got  in  the  boys  were  all  jolly  and  laugh- 
ing.     It  was  warm  and  comfortable  inside." 

(6)  "  I  come  to  the  Play  Centre  because  it  is 
free  and  it  is  so  dark  outside.  What  is  the  use  of 
walking  about  in  the  dark  street  when  you  can 
come  into  a  warm  building  like  this?" 

(c)  "The  best  thing  about  the  Play  Centre  is 
that  every  day  I  make  a  new  friend.'' 

Here  we  get  down  to  the  real  needs,  the  satisfac- 
tion of  which  is  carrying  the  Play  Centre  movement 
to  an  assured  development. 

First,  the  elementary  need  that  a  child  feels  for 
warmth  and  shelter  in  winter.  The  streets  which 
for  millions  of  our  elementary  school  children  are 
their  only  playing-place,  where  their  hard-pressed 
parents,  cramped  in  tiny  rooms,  or  working  them- 
selves till  late,  inevitably  turn  them  out  after  school, 
are  for  many  months  in  the  year,  under  our  climate, 
a  bitter  nursery. 

Secondly,  the  need  for  help  in  their  play,  the  help 
of  a  friendly  grown-up.  The  children  of  the  poor, 
except  through  their  school  games,  which  are  played 


PREFATORY  NOTE  xv 

in  school  hours,  rarely  or  never  get  it.  But  at  the 
Play  Centre,  says  one  of  these  Manchester  children, 
"every  day  I  make  a  new  friend".  The  words 
are  simple.  The  pathos  of  them  can  only  be 
realised  by  those  who  know  what  the  friendlessness 
of  our  town  children  often  is. 

Thirdly,  the  need  for  comradeship,  for  play  and 
fun  in  common,  under  conditions  where  tyranny  and 
bullying  are  impossible,  and  all  have  an  equal 
chance.  The  Play  Centre  "is  such  a  jolly  place". 
And  indeed  the  atmosphere  of  a  Centre  which  is 
going  well,  going  as  it  ought  to  do,  is  always  in- 
fectiously happy  and  sociable. 

But  there  are  many  other  childish  needs  to  which 
the  Centres  bring  a  satisfaction  which  often  throws 
new  and  astonishing  light  not  only  on  childish  need, 
but  childish  capacity. 

The  drawing  and  modelling  rooms,  the  wood- 
work and  toy-making  classes  in  the  London  Play 
Centres  are  eagerly  attended  by  children  after  their 
school  hours,  the  only  difficulty  being  to  find  room 
and  teachers  for  those  who  want  to  join.  Let  it  be 
remembered  that  in  the  case  of  many  of  the  homes 
from  which  these  children  come,  pencils,  brushes, 
paints,  paper  to  draw  on,  and  a  quiet  corner  in 
which  to  work  are  hard  indeed  to  come  by.  The 
Art  Centres  of  the  L.C.C.  furnish  admirable  train- 
ing for  those  children  who  show  special  aptitude  in 
their  school  work  ;  but  for  the  mass  of  children  who 

will   never   be   artists  or   sculptors   or  decorators, 
b 


xvi   EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

while  they  share  the  almost  universal  instinct  which 
makes  a  child  delight  in  using  a  pencil  or  putting  a 
bright  colour  on  paper,  the  painting-rooms  at  the 
Centres  are  an  endless  pleasure,  into  which,  no 
doubt,  the  element  of  free  choice  largely  enters. 
They  choose  for  themselves,  and  if  they  can  only 
— with  difficulty — colour  a  simple  outline,  red  or 
blue  or  yellow — yet,  when  done,  it  is  beautiful  in 
their  eyes,  and  they  proudly  take  it  home.  But 
the  Centre  often  discovers  talent  for  itself,  which 
the  Day  School  has  missed.  The  teacher  in  the 
painting-room  is  instructed  to  look  out  for  it.  And 
when  a  boy  in  the  painting-room — it  is  nearly 
always  a  boy — shows  up  a  piece  of  work  with 
promise  in  it,  he  gets  a  little  special  help,  is  specially 
looked  after  and  encouraged,  as  he  would  be  in  an 
educated  home,  and  you  may  see  him  night  after 
night  in  a  corner,  absorbed  in  his  work,  with  a 
child's  dreamland  about  him.  The  drawings  shown 
at  the  Play  Centre  Exhibition  of  191 3  were  sur- 
prising to  all  who  saw  them,  and  they  were  the 
fruit  of  purely  voluntary  effort,  undertaken  for 
nothing  but  the  joy  of  it. 

With  lengthening  days  and  summer  time,  the 
London  Play  Centres  from  April  onwards  are  of 
course  transferred  to  the  school  playgrounds,  which 
are  thus  at  last  beginning  to  find  their  full  and  proper 
use.  Some  of  the  illustrations  in  this  volume  will 
show  how  varied  are  the  summer  purposes — of 
games,  rest  and  handwork  out  of  doors — to  which 


PREFATORY  NOTE  xvii 

they  may  be  put.      The  school  buildings  are  still 
available  for  shelter,  whether  in  heat  or  rain. 

So  much  for  what  the  Centres  do  for  the  physical, 
social,  and  intellectual  needs  of  the  child.     As  to 
their  moral  effects,  the  possibilities  of  the  future  are 
great.     I   could  fill   pages   with   the   testimony   of 
superintendents,  teachers,  parents,  police,  and  magis- 
trates, to  the  influence  which  the  Centres  are  every 
day  exerting  upon  some  of  the  roughest  and  least 
disciplined  children  of  our  towns.      But,  alas,  what 
are    200  Centres  throughout   England  among  so 
many !      London  alone  ought  to  have  from  200  to 
230  Centres  open  every  night.     Then  indeed  we 
might  have  laid  a  solid  foundation  for  the  work  of 
the  Juvenile   Organisation   Committees,   which  are 
now  struggling  in  our  town  areas,  under  the  friendly 
guidance  of  the  Board  of  Education,  to  cope  with 
the  needs  and  difficulties  of  the  boys  and  girls  who 
have  left  school.      In  my  belief,  and  I  have  been  in 
contact  with  both  movements,  the  first  endeavour  of 
a  Juvenile   Organisation  Committee  in  any  town 
where  it  may  be  started,  should  be  to  secure  from 
their  local  authority  and  from  the  patriotism  of  the 
town,  a  proper  supply  of  Play  Centres  for  the  towns 
children.     Everything  that  the  J.  O.  C.  of  a  town, 
or  its  Continuation  School   Committee,  desires  to 
promote  and   help   in  the  lads  and  girls  growing 
to    maturity — intelligence,    comradeship,    unselfish- 
ness, delight  in  self-chosen  occupation,  accessibility 
to  the  higher  pleasures — ought  to  be  rooted  and 


xviii  EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

grounded,  first  in  the  school,  next  in  the  Play 
Centre.  Give  every  town  child  in  this  country 
access  to  a  properly-run  Play  Centre,  and,  in  my 
opinion,  profoundly  shared  by  many  other  observers, 
you  will  have  done  more  to  enable  Mr.  Fisher's 
great  Education  Bill  to  gather  in  its  true  harvest 
— more  to  help  that  noble  army  of  disinterested 
workers  in  Boys'  and  Girls'  Clubs  throughout  the 
country,  than  by  any  other  means  whatever. 

Let  me  quote  two  contrasted  utterances  as  an 
illustration.  One  comes  from  the  report  of  an 
expert  on  several  thousand  cases  of  juvenile  de- 
linquency. Poverty,  bad  company,  lack  of  means 
to  keep  a  hold  on  children  who  have  been  dealt 
with  in  the  Children's  Courts — these  and  other 
causes  are  enumerated  as  producing  or  favouring 
juvenile  delinquency,  and  the  compiler  of  the  re- 
port urgently  advises  that  a  consulting  visitor 
should  be  appointed  to  each  Children's  Court,  who 
should  go  to  the  homes,  make  friends  with  the 
parents,  consult  with  them  about  the  child,  and  try 
and  influence  his  or  her  future  for  the  best.  There 
is  no  mention  of  Play  Centres,  with  which,  appar- 
ently, the  author  of  the  report  has  not  been 
brought  into  contact.  But  I  turn  to  a  London 
Play  Centre  Report  for  191 5,  and  I  find  a  London 
Police  Magistrate  writing  from  the  Greenwich 
Police  Court : — 

"  I  am  very  sorry  to  hear  that  there  is  a  falling- 
off    in    the    Play    Centre    funds.      It    would    be   a 


PREFATORY  NOTE  xix 

calamity  if  the  local  Centres  or  any  of  them  should 
have  to  be  closed  in  consequence.  I  have  seen 
something  of  the  work  they  are  doing,  and  know 
how  it  keeps  the  boys  and  girls  out  of  mischief. 
In  the  Deptford  Centre  especially  there  are,  or 
were,  boys  who  had  been  more  than  once  in  trouble 
at  Greenwich  Children's  Court  before  there  was  a 
Play  Centre  there,  and  who  have  been  since,  night 
after  night,  quite  happily  and  harmlessly  employed 
in  working-  off  the  superfluous  energy  which,  other- 
wise applied,  might  have  brought  them  again  into 
the  hands  of  the  police." 

Farther  on  I  come  upon  an  assurance  from  the 
Chief  Commissioner  of  Police  that  the  "  Centres 
may  count  on  any  assistance  Sir  Edward  Henry 
has  it  in  his  power  to  give,  because  of  the  work 
they  are  doing".  Or  a  superintendent,  writing: 
"My  list  of  every-night  boys  is  growing  steadily. 
I  have  been  able  to  break  up  a  group  of  boys 
calling  themselves  'the  Clutching  Hand  Gang'. 
They  are  as  amenable  as  possible  now;"  while 
another  says :  "  By  getting  a  hold  on  a  lively  leader 
I  have  been  able  to  scatter  several  bands  of  rough 
boys.  One  such  leader  was  so  fascinated  by  the 
painting-class  that  I  won  him  to  the  Centre,  and 
ended  his  mad  exploits."  Or  a  mother  during  the 
war  comes  to  say  to  a  superintendent :  "  Oh,  miss, 
don't  you  turn  that  boy  o'  mine  out  o'  your  Centre 
now  'is  father's  away  fightin' !  I  can't  do  nothing 
with  'im. " 


xx    EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

The  rapid  spread  of  the  Play  Centre  movement 
is  indeed  in  this  country  the  next  great  educational 
step  to  be  taken,  and  upon  it  really  depends  the 
success  of  the  efforts  now  being  made  by  nation  and 
Government  to  extend  and  deepen  the  education 
of  our  people,  and  to  protect  our  growing  boys  and 
girls  from  the  demoralising  influences  which  at 
present  seem  to  be  inherent  in  our  city  life.  The 
vast  majority  of  our  great  school  buildings  in  all  our 
large  towns  are  still  standing  useless  and  empty 
from  the  end  of  afternoon  school  at  4.30  or  5  till 
the  meeting  of  the  evening  classes  at  about  7 
o'clock.  Yet  in  these  precious  hours  they  rea/fy  be- 
long to  the  children,  who  in  their  tenement  homes, 
or  in  the  crowded  streets,  are  denied  the  natural 
heritage  of  healthy  children — the  means  of  play, 
and  space  to  play  in,  under  a  light  and  wise 
discipline.  And  in  these  children  lies  the  hope  of 
England.  Surely,  at  this  time  of  day,  it  does  not 
need  urging  that  it  is  both  our  duty  and  our  profit 
so  to  guard  and  train  the  children  of  the  nation  as 
to  put  a  stop  to  the  continual  waste  of  young  life 
and  faculty  which  goes  on  in  our  large  towns. 
Only  through  the  children  can  we  repair  the 
ravages  of  this  war  ;  and  in  caring  for  them  we 
offer  our  truest  homage  to  the  brave  men,  their 
fathers  and  their  kin,  who  have  died  for  England. 
We  cannot  be  too  jealous  for  each  childish  person- 
ality, for  its  safety,  its  growth,  its  happiness ;  and 
according  to  our  sowing  now,  will  be  the  future. 


PREFATORY  NOTE  xxi 

Others,  I  doubt  not,  if  not  we, 
The  issue  of  our  toils  shall  see ; 
And,  we  forgotten  and  unknown, 
Young  children  gather  as  their  own 
The  harvest  which  the  dead  have  sown. 

Mary  A.   Ward. 

[To  this  short  Prefatory  Note,  1  desire  to  take  this  oppor- 
tunity of  adding  some  expression,  however  inadequate,  of  my 
warm  gratitude  to  all  those  who  for  this  twenty  years  have  co- 
operated in  the  work  described  in  this  book  ;  to  my  devoted 
Secretaries  first  and  foremost,  Miss  Bessie  Churcher,  Miss 
Gertrude  Taubman,  Miss  Grace  Blundell,  who  have  stood 
by  me  all  this  time,  and  without  whom  I  could  have  done 
nothing ;  to  my  colleagues  of  the  Play  Centres  Committee ; 
to  the  subscribers  who  year  by  year  have  responded,  with 
large  or  small  sums,  to  the  call  of  my  "Times"  letter;  to 
"The  Times"  newspaper  itself,  whose  help  has  been  invalu- 
able. Above  all  to  the  present  Duke  of  Bedford,  who  has 
been  the  constant  friend  of  London  children,  ever  since  by  his 
aid  the  Passmore  Edwards  Settlement  was  founded,  and  became 
the  experiment  ground  from  which  have  sprung  Play  Centres, 
Vacation  Schools,  and  Physically  Defective  Schools,  who  also 
since  1895  has  never  ceased  his  liberal  support  of  the  work  so 
begun ;  to  the  authorities,  present  and  past,  of  the  County 
Council  and  the  Board  of  Education  who  have  watched  our 
work  with  unfailing  keenness  and  sympathy — -especially  to 
Lord  Gainford,  Sir  George  Newman,  Sir  Cyril  Cobb,  Sir  Robert 
Blair,  Mr.  B.  M.  Allen,  Sir  Amherst  Selby-Bigge,  and  last  but 
not  least,  Mr.  Fisher  himself,  the  Minister  to  whom  all  who  care 
for  national  education  are  now  turning  with  ever-increasing 
hope ;  to  the  London  Play  Centre  staff,  now  some  400  in 
number,  on  whom  falls  night  after  night  the  strain  of  dealing 
with  these  thousands  of  children — hard-worked  teachers  most 
of  them,  whose  gaiety,  resource,  love  of  the  children,  and  delight 


xxii  EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

in  the  new  work  are  indispensable  to  its  success ;  and  to  the 
children  themselves ! — to  the  little  monitors  who  help  with  the 
babies  so  eagerly  and  sweetly — to  the  little  pianists  of  eleven 
and  twelve  whose  flying  fingers  as  they  play  for  the  dances  and 
marches  never  seem  to  tire,  and  to  the  old  Play  Centre  boys, 
many  of  whom  after  the  bitter  years  of  war  come  back  when 
they  can,  to  look  at  the  Centre  where  they  played  before  the 
war,  and  give  a  helping  hand  to  the  superintendents.  To  all 
these  living  friends — never  forgetting  those  boy-helpers  and 
zealous  teachers  who  will  return  no  more — London  owes  a 
debt  which  she  will  recognise  more  and  more  clearly  as  school 
after  school  in  her  crowded  streets  and  lanes  opens  its  doors  to 
the  playing  children,  until  at  last  no  child  within  her  borders 
but  miy  claim  his  or  her  rights  in  a  national  provision  which, 
after  fifty  years,  will  go  far  to  complete  the  great  work  begun 
by  the  Elementary  Education  Act  of  1870.] 


EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES 
FOR  CHILDREN 

CHAPTER  I 

Origins  of  the  Movement — The  Children's  Recreation  School 
at  the  Passmore  Edwards  Settlement 

IT  is  now  nearly  five-and-twenty  years  since  a  cer- 
tain dingy  room  in  Marchmont  Street,  Gray's 
Inn  Road — euphemistically  known  as  Marchmont 
Hall — saw  the  first  tentative  beginnings  of  the  Play 
Centre  experiment.  Marchmont  Hall  was  an 
offshoot  of  the  University  Hall  Settlement  founded 
by  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward  in  1890,  and  became  the 
scene  of  much  devoted  social  service  on  the  part  of 
the  residents  of  that  Settlement  during  the  early 
'nineties.  Lectures,  concerts,  and  clubs  filled  the 
programme  of  the  Hall  in  the  evenings,  but  on 
Saturday  mornings  the  place  became  the  property 
of  the  children.  A  piano  was  installed  on  the 
rickety  platform  of  the  old  Hall,  and  there  under 
the  leadership  of  a  teacher  of  genius,  Miss  Mary 
Neal — who  has  since  done  so  much  to  promote  the 
study  of  old  English  folk-songs  and  dances — the 
children     of     that     dreary    neighbourhood    were 


2      EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

gathered  in  of  a  Saturday  morning  for  music  and 
games,  until  their  numbers  threatened  to  over- 
whelm both  space  and  helpers.  It  was  indeed  the 
instant  response  of  that  dense  population  to  the 
effort  made  at  Marchmont  Hall  that  led  in  a  few 
years  to  the  building  of  a  new  and  spacious  home, 
the  Passmore  Edwards  Settlement,  where  these 
and  kindred  efforts  could  be  developed  and  ex- 
panded at  will.  Of  the  immense  driving-power 
that  ended  with  the  successful  opening  of  the 
Settlement  in  October,  1897,  this  is  not  the  place 
to  speak,  but  memory  brings  back  to  me  visions  of 
an  all-absorbing  purpose  that  pervaded  our  house 
during  those  years,  of  the  triumphant  overcoming 
of  all  difficulties,  and  of  the  gradual  rising  of  that 
stately  building  whose  beauty  of  design  became 
to  all  of  us  an  ever-present  joy.  At  length  on 
October  16,  1897,  all  was  ready,  and  we  held  the 
first  Saturday  morning  "  Playroom  "  in  the  big  hall 
on  the  first  floor.  The  children  from  Marchmont 
Street  crowded  in  in  scores  and  in  hundreds- — for 
in  the  course  of  the  morning  we  dealt  with  two 
batches  of  about  120  each — and  I  remember  well 
how  our  tenderness  for  the  new  floor  led  us  to 
provide  a  pair  of  list  slippers  for  each  child,  and 
how  these  shapeless  objects  soon  littered  the  floor 
and  caused  many  an  unofficial  game  of  football 
to  spring  up  in  the  midst  of  our  "singing  games  ". 
Pandemonium,  in  fact,  reigned  on  that  first  Satur- 
day morning,  but  by  the  time  the  second  week  came 
round  we  had  brought  order  out  of  chaos — tapes 


ORIGINS  OF  THE  MOVEMENT  3 

were  sewn  on  the  slippers,  cardboard  tickets  of  four 
different  colours  were  provided  to  correspond  with 
the  aprons  of  the  helpers,  and  in  each  quarter  of 
the  hall  a  vast  ring  of  eager  children  went  through 
the  evolutions  of  "  Looby  Loo,"  "  When  I  was  a 
Young  Girl,"  or  "  Here  come  Three  Dukes  a-Rid- 
ing".  From  that  day  to  this  the  "  Saturday  morn- 
ings "  at  the  Passmore  Edwards  Settlement  have 
never  been  intermitted,  and  generations  of  our  sing- 
ing children  have  passed  out  into  the  world,  to  work, 
to  marry,  to  bear  children  of  their  own,  or,  at  the 
last,  to  hallow  with  their  bones  the  fields  of  France. 
Soon,  however,  we  found  that  Saturday  was  not 
the  only  day  of  the  week  on  which  the  children  of 
St.  Pancras  needed  shepherding.  Every  evening- 
there  were  those  long  hours  when  school  and  tea 
were  over,  when  the  children  used  to  wander  forth 
into  the  streets,  out  of  the  way  of  the  hard-worked 
mother,  and  had  nothing  better  to  do  than  to  play  in 
the  gutter  or  to  run  off  to  the  well-lighted  thorough- 
fares some  distance  away,  there  to  gaze  in  the  shop 
windows  and  to  form  small  orangs  on  the  lookout  for 
accidents  or  fights.  Counter-attractions  to  these 
delights  were  not  difficult  to  provide,  given  an  ener- 
getic band  of  helpers  and  the  splendid  rooms  of  the 
Passmore  Edwards  Settlement,  and  gradually  the 
late  afternoons  were  all  filled  up  with  different  occu- 
pations— musical  drill,  drawing  and  painting,  a  chil- 
dren's library,  a  little  girls'  club,  story-telling  for 
the  "under  tens,"  basket-making  and  clay-model- 
ling for  the  boys.      I  remember  well  how  the  story- 


4      EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

telling  fell  to  my  lot,  in  the  winter  of  1898  9,  and 
how  every  Monday  at  5.30  I  had  to  cope  with  over 
100  children  ranging  from  three  to  ten,  and  to  keep 
them  quiet  for  an  hour  with  the  well-remembered 
tales  of  my  own  childhood.  One  evening,  indeed, 
I  had  to  cram  in  136,  "sitting  on  seventy-six  chairs, 
two  hot-water  stoves,  and  one  small  table,"  as  my 
diary  of  the  time  reminds  me,  so  that  it  really  was 
too  tight  a  fit,  and  although  they  heard  me  out  they 
broke  into  wild  riots  at  the  end,  stormed  the  plat- 
form out  of  sheer  relief  from  cramp,  and  reduced 
me  to  behave  "  like  Ajax  on  his  ship  V 

In  the  first  winter  of  our  work  at  the  "Pass- 
more,"  as  the  children  soon  began  to  call  it  with 
affectionate  brevity,  we  dealt  with  some  350  at- 
tendances per  week,  representing  perhaps  250  in- 
dividual children,  but  as  the  years  went  on  these 
figures  were  gradually  doubled  and  quadrupled. 
The  masters  and  mistresses  of  the  schools  in  the 
immediate  neighbourhood  began  to  take  an  interest 
in  the  tales  brought  back  to  them  by  the  children, 
and  presently  as  our  organisation  developed  we 
would  apply  to  them  for  lists  of  the  children  who, 
in  their  opinion,  stood  in  most  need  of  shelter  and 
recreation  after  school.  For  throughout  this  dis- 
trict there  were  plenty  of  homes  where  both  mother 
and  father  were  out  at  work  till  7  or  8  o'clock,   so 

1  For  the  benefit  of  those  who  are  not  classically  minded  (as  I 
seem  to  have  been  in  those  days  !),  let  me  remind  my  readers  that 
Ajax  once  kept  .off  the  whole  Trojan  army  single-handed  from  his 
beached  ship  by  laying  about  him  with  a  mighty  oar.  Only  on  this 
occasion  I  had  no  oar  ! 


TOY-MAKI.\<; 


SINGING    GAME 


ORIGINS  OF  THE  MOVEMENT  5 

that  the  little  ones — even  if  they  were  not  locked 
out,  as  happened  pretty  frequently — found  little  to 
cheer  them  in  their  unlit  rooms.  Thus  by  the  time 
that  we  had  something-  to  offer  at  the  Settlement 
on  every  evening-  of  the  week  we  also  had  a  list  of 
"  every-night  "  children,  who  had  special  tickets 
and  were  admitted  in  preference  to  the  thronging 
new-comers.  We  had,  in  fact,  stumbled  almost 
unconsciously  on  one  of  the  most  pressing  needs  of 
our  modern  town-life,  a  need  produced  by  bad 
housing  conditions  and  by  the  unremitting-  drudgery 
of  the  slums — that  of  providing,  on  a  large  and 
systematic  scale,  for  the  leisure  hours  of  our  chil- 
dren. Once  we  had  recognised  the  urgency  of 
this  need  we  felt  that  we  could  go  ahead  with  ever 
greater  confidence  ;  all  that  we  could  do  was  but 
a  drop  in  the  ocean  of  London's  need,  but  so  far  as 
it  went  it  was  a  wholesome  drop !  By  the  winter 
of  1899-1900  the  fame  of  the  "  Passmore "  had 
spread  to  the  districts  north  of  the  Euston  Road 
and  east  of  the  Gray's  Inn  Road  ;  messages  from 
parents  constantly  reached  us  asking  us  to  admit 
Sidney  or  Annie  or  Alf  to  the  gym.,  the  library, 
or  the  dancing,  and  the  number  of  children  taken 
in  was  only  limited  by  the  size  of  the  rooms  and 
by  the  number  of  helpers  that  we  could  press  into 
the  service.  As  regards  these  helpers,  the  zeal 
and  regularity  of  our  voluntary  workers  always 
struck  me  as  astonishing  ;  on  Saturday  mornings 
we  had  from  eight  to  twelve  ;  the  library  absorbed 
one  or  two  every  evening ;  at  first  the  musical  drill 


6      EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

was  conducted  by  two  volunteers,  and  for  years 
a  kind-hearted  working-woman  from  the  block  of 
building's  over  the  way  insisted  on  coming  to  help 
every  evening  with  the  admission  and  distribution 
of  the  children,  never  consenting  to  accept  any  re- 
muneration. But  as  the  work  expanded  in  so 
many  directions  it  became  necessary  to  enlist  also 
the  professional  teacher  of  handicrafts,  gymnastics, 
carpentering,  or  folk-dancing,  and  a  special  fund 
was  raised  by  Mrs.  Ward  and  administered  by  the 
"Women's  Work  Committee"  of  the  Settlement, 
to  cover  these  expenses.  The  cost  of  materials  for 
the  different  classes  also  continued  to  increase,  but 
the  work  was  so  new  and  its  appeal  so  irre- 
sistible that  the  money  came  in  without  much  diffi- 
culty. 

In  looking  back  over  those  years  it  is  our  efforts 
with  the  older  boys  that  seem  on  the  whole  to  stand 
out  most  vividly  in  my  remembrance.  How  to 
satisfy  the  restless,  hungry  spirits,  the  eager  hands 
and  active  bodies  of  the  growing  boys — how  to 
make  them  think  a  little  for  their  neighbours, 
keep  certain  elementary  rules  of  good  behaviour 
and  yet  not  be  bored  !  At  the  Playrooms  they 
often  seemed  to  be  possessed  with  a  devil,  would 
band  together  in  gangs  to  shout  and  interrupt  the 
games,  until,  once  or  twice,  they  had  to  be  bodily 
turned  out  ;  but  they  bore  us  no  malice  and  would 
turn  up  again  next  evening  with  a  cheery  "  'Ere 
we  are  again,  Miss!"  to  take  part  in  carpentering 
or  musical  drill,  where,  very  likely,  they  would  be 


ORIGINS  OF  THE  MOVEMENT  7 

as  meek  as  lambs.  My  mother  had  a  special  class 
of  twenty-five  to  thirty  to  whom  she  read  aloud 
Stevenson  or  Kipling  every  week,  or  told  them  of 
her  travels  abroad  and  brought  them  pictures  to  see, 
and  presently  this  class  descended  to  me  and  became 
one  of  my  strongest  links  with  the  "  Passmore ". 
One  seemed  to  get  through  most  of  the  English 
classics  in  the  course  of  three  or  four  winters,  and 
alas,  what  lessons  one  learnt  in  the  art  of  skipping ! 
Stevenson  could  usually  be  read  straight  through, 
and  Kipling  and  the  "  Prisoner  of  Zenda  "  nearly 
so,  but  "  Great  Expectations  "  was  the  only  Dickens 
on  which  one  could  venture,  on  account  of  its  com- 
parative brevity,  and  as  to  Scott,  I  remember  feeling 
it  a  real  triumph  to  have  got  through  "  The  Abbot  " 
without  a  serious  riot !  After  a  time  these  readings 
developed  into  lectures  on  history  with  lantern 
slides,  the  audience  running  to  over  a  hundred  and 
consisting  both  of  boys  and  girls,  but  the  boys,  with 
their  sharp  tongues  all  agog  and  their  sociable 
delight  in  whispering,  were  my  constant  preoccupa- 
tion, and  the  sure  test  of  the  success  or  failure  of 
the  lecture  was  whether  the  boys  had  kept  quiet  or 
not.  How  well  I  remember  their  yells  of  "  Old 
Krujer  !  "  at  an  inoffensive  slide  of  Sir  Thomas  Fair- 
fax !  But  usually  they  devoured  the  slides  with  no 
more  than  a  buzz  of  wonder  and  approval,  and 
when  it  came  to  cutting  off  King  Charles's  head, 
with  Gow's  picture  on  the  screen  to  gaze  at,  their 
silence  was  almost  uncanny,  until  at  a  challenge 
from  the  lecturer  a  clamour  of  voices  arose — "  'E 


8      EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

was  a  traitor!"    from    the    boys  and    " 'E  was  a 
martyr  !  "  from  the  girls. 

When  the  evenings  lengthened  out  the  games 
and  classes  were  transferred  bodily  to  the  big  garden 
behind  the  Settlement,  where  in  the  warm  summer 
evenings  different  groups  of  children  might  be  seen 
sitting  under  the  plane-trees,  sewing  or  painting  or 
making  scrap-books,  while  at  a  long  trestle  table 
the  boys  would  be  clay-modelling  or  weaving 
baskets.  Cricket  was  also  arranged  in  Regent's 
Park  by  some  of  the  residents  of  the  Settlement, 
and  on  Saturday  mornings  we  abandoned  the  Play- 
rooms for  a  series  of  "  Expeditions  "  to  the  various 
sights  of  London — -the  Zoo,  the  Tower,  the  Natural 
History  Museum,  the  Houses  of  Parliament,  and 
so  forth — for  which  the  children  all  brought  their 
pennies  for  bus-fares  clasped  tight  in  grubby  fingers. 
Here  again  it  was  the  boys  that  usually  fell  to  my 
lot,  and  our  wanderings  through  the  Zoo  or  the 
Houses  of  Parliament  remain  with  me  as  some 
of  the  most  amusing  experiences  of  those  years. 
Their  unfailing  curiosity  about  everything  they 
came  across,  from  the  llama's  habit  of  spitting  to 
the  probable  length  of  Big  Ben's  long  hand,  kept 
one's  powers  of  invention  constantly  on  the  stretch, 
and  then  the  anxiety  of  cramming  them  all  indiffer- 
ent batches  on  the  elephant's  back  for  the  longed- 
for  ride,  of  retrieving  stray  members  of  the  party 
that  had  stolen  off  to  buy  sweets,  and  of  getting 
them,  if  possible,  all  on  to  the  same  bus,  made  these 
Saturday  mornings  a  strenuous  time  for  the  single- 


origins  of  the  Movement  g 

handed  helper.  1 1  was  always  a  moment  of  extreme 
relief  when  I  marched  them  back  in  safety  to  the 
doors  of  the  Settlement. 

The  climax  of  the  year's  work  for  both  children 
and  helpers  came  round  in  these  first  years  with 
the  Christmas  Entertainment,  when  two  per- 
formances were  given  in  the  big  hall,  one  for 
children  and  one  for  parents,  of  all  the  "  stunts  " 
— as  we  should  call  them  now — that  the  children 
had  been  learning  in  the  previous  term.  Musical 
drill  and  dancing,  both  of  a  very  high  quality, 
delighted  the  onlookers,  the  singing  was  quite 
passable,  and  finally  (in  1900)  scenes  from  the 
"  Midsummer  Night's  Dream  "  held  us  enthralled 
for  an  hour.  Fairy  dresses  had  been  made  by  the 
girls'  sewing-class  and  by  many  devoted  helpers 
for  weeks  past,  and  for  "  Pyramus  and  Thisbe " 
the  rehearsals  and  the  dressmaking"  had  been  on 
the  grand  scale.  An  Irish  boy  of  real  comic  genius, 
named  Samuel  Teagne,  played  Pyramus,  and  I 
think  many  tired  mothers  must  remember  to  this 
day  their  gasps  of  delight  over  his  antics  and  his 
groans,  and  the  rattlings  of  his  armour  as  he  rolled, 
stone-dead,  down  to  the  footlights.  In  later  years 
the  annual  entertainments  were  held  in  summer, 
under  the  trees  in  the  big  garden,  and  there  in  the 
heart  of  central  London  you  might  see  some  800 
parents  and  children  gathered  under  the  plane  trees, 
watching  the  performers  drill  and  dance  and  sing, 
while  all  Marchmont  Street  crowded  its  back 
windows  and  leads  to  look  on. 


io     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

I  have  dwelt  thus  at  some  length  upon  the 
"  Children's  Recreation  School  "  at  the  Passmore 
Edwards  Settlement,  because  it  was  the  experi- 
ment from  which  the  Play  Centre  movement 
sprang",  and  because  to  the  experience  gained 
there  was  due  Mrs.  Ward's  conviction  that  an 
educational  system  which  took  no  account  of  the 
child's  need  for  play  was  in  sore  need  of  supple- 
menting. The  pathetic  response  of  the  teeming 
child-population  of  St.  Pancras  to  the  simple 
recreations  that  we  offered  them  showed  that 
the  need  was  a  profound  and  genuine  one,  and 
after  seven  years'  experience  in  methods  of  organ- 
isation it  was  decided  to  make  an  attempt  to  carry 
the  adventure  further.  The  attendances  at  the 
Settlement  had  risen  by  the  end  of  1904  to  1700 
a  week,  but  if  this  made  some  sensible  impression 
on  the  lives  of  the  children  in  that  neighbourhood, 
what  could  be  said  of  the  dreary  miles  of  bricks 
and  mortar  farther  east  ?  Of  Bethnal  Green, 
Hoxton,  Haggerston,  Bow,  and  Poplar,  or  again 
of  the  mean  streets  to  the  south,  Bermondsey, 
Lambeth,  and  Southwark  ?  Or  of  such  a  specially 
degraded  district  as  the  slums  of  Notting  Dale? 
In  all  these  ancient  boroughs  the  great  school 
buildings  rose,  a  witness  to  the  honest  desire  of 
our  generation  to  deal  generously  by  the  children, 
but  every  day  at  4  or  4.30  their  inmates  trooped 
out,  leaving  them  to  stand  gaunt  and  empty  for 
the  rest  of  the  evening.  It  is  true  that  the  Chil- 
dren's  Happy   Evenings   Association — all    honour 


ORIGINS  OF  THE  MOVEMENT  it 

to  it  for  being-  the  first  to  attempt  any  remedy — 
had  established  in  about  ioo  schools  a  weekly  or 
fortnightly  evening,  when  from  ioo  to  150  children 
were  invited  through  the  teachers,  usually  as  the 
reward  for  regular  attendance,  to  spend  a  happy 
two  hours  in  dancing,  drill,  quiet  games,  and  the 
like.  But,  with  the  best  intentions  on  the  part  of 
the  workers  (who  were  exclusively  volunteers),  such 
Evenings  could  only  meet  the  real  needs  of  the 
children  to  a  very  limited  extent.  Normally  there 
would  be  an  evening  for  girls  and  an  evening  for 
boys  on  alternate  weeks  from  October  to  April, 
and  as  the  invitations  were  naturally  distributed 
over  as  many  children  as  possible,  the  individual 
child  could  rarely  attend  more  than  four  or  five 
times  in  the  year.  A  system  on  these  lines  could 
hold  out  little  promise  of  meeting  the  daily  needs 
of  800,000  children,  although  the  spirit  animating 
the  best  "  Evenings  "  was  a  very  valuable  one.  At 
any  rate,  in  the  winter  of  1904-5,  there  were  still 
700  schools  untouched  by  the  Happy  Evenings, 
and  although  these  could  not  afford  the  exceptional 
amenities  of  the  Settlement  buildings  and  garden, 
still  the  attempt  to  use  them — or  some  fraction  of 
them — was  well  worth  the  making,  and  in  the 
winter  of  1904-5  Mrs.  Ward  decided  that  the  time 
had  come  to  make  it. 


CHAPTER  II 

The  First  School  Play  Centres,  1904-7 

IT  was  in  October,  1904,  that  a  small  committee 
was  formed  by  Mrs.  Ward,  including  four 
Members  of  Parliament  specially  interested  in 
London  affairs,  to  lay  certain  proposals  for  the  hold- 
ing of  Evening  Play  Centres  in  London  Schools 
before  the  Education  Committee  of  the  London 
County  Council.  Only  eight  Centres  were  at  first 
contemplated,  and  a  fund  of  ^800  was  raised  for 
the  first  year's  expenses,  with  a  promise  of  continu- 
ance from  the  subscribers  should  the  experiment 
prove  successful.  The  Education  Committee  gave 
prompt  consideration  to  our  committee's  application, 
and  granted  the  free  use  of  the  Infants'  hall  and 
two  or  three  classrooms,  with  free  lighting  and 
heating,  in  the  schools  named  by  the  committee. 
Only  the  expenses  of  extra  cleaning  and  caretaking 
were  to  be  borne  by  us,  and  a  proviso  was  also  added 
that  we  were  to  be  responsible  for  any  damage 
caused  to  the  school  buildings  by  our  children. 
We  were  therefore  at  liberty  to  commence  opera- 
tions in  the  seven  schools  we  had  selected  (two  of 
which  were  to  be  brigaded  together  as  one  Centre), 
while  a  seventh  Centre  was  offered  to  and  accepted 


THE  FIRST  SCHOOL  PLAY  CENTRES,   1904-7     13 

by  a  Church  School  in  Somers  Town,  and  the 
eighth  was  to  be  held  in  Toynbee  Hall,  White- 
chapel.  The  districts  in  which  our  Council  Schools 
were  situated  were  as  follows :  Bethnal  Green, 
Bow,  Hoxton,  Ratcliff,  Lambeth,  and  Walworth. 

These  eight  Centres  having  been  determined 
upon,  application  was  made  to  the  various  training 
colleges  and  educational  agencies  for  suitable 
superintendents,  for  an  essential  feature  of  the 
scheme  was  that  each  Centre  should  be  under  the 
direction  of  a  paid  superintendent,  with  Kinder- 
garten or  Drill  and  Games  qualifications,  who 
would  be  assisted  by  paid  and  voluntary  workers. 
The  Centres  were  to  be  open  on  five  evenings 
a  week  and  on  Saturday  mornings,  and  the  pro- 
gramme of  occupations  was  to  include  musical  drill, 
dancing,  singing,  games,  lantern  talks,  and  various 
forms  of  hand-work,  such  as  clay-modelling,  brush- 
work,  doll-dressing,  knitting,  drawing,  rug-making, 
basket-work,  etc.  There  would  also  be  opportunity 
for  quiet  games  and  reading.  The  Centres  were, 
as  a  general  rule,  to  work  upon  a  two-session  time- 
table, allowing  for  two  sets  of  100  children  each 
evening.  Each  child  would  normally  make  two 
attendances  per  week,  but  would  be  allowed  a  third 
attendance  for  games  on  Saturday  mornings,  for 
reading  in  the  library  or  for  a  lantern  lecture. 

A  great  many  excellent  teachers  were  provided 
by  the  various  training  colleges,  the  senior  students 
of  which  found  the  work  very  useful  to  them  on 
account  of  the  experience  it  gave,  while  the  Play 


i4     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

Centre  hours  (5.30-7.30)  did  not  as  a  rule  interfere 
with  their  regular  work.  They  therefore  either 
gave  their  services  as  volunteers  or  only  asked  for 
a  small  remuneration.  The  supply  of  voluntary 
workers  was  stimulated  by  the  appointment  of  three 
or  four  local  managers  for  each  Centre,  whose 
principal  duty  was  to  find  a  small  number  of  regular 
helpers,  and  this  system  worked  very  well  for  ihe 
first  year  or  so,  until  the  unprecedented  increase 
in  the  numbers  of  our  children  obliged  us  to  rely 
more  and  more  on  the  professional  worker.  The 
voluntary  helper,  great  as  are  her  merits  in  every 
way,  does  after  all  suffer  from  colds  or  bad  head- 
aches— or  invitations  ! — more  frequently  than  the 
professional,  and  as  the  size  of  our  classes  increased 
it  became  more  and  more  disastrous  for  a  roomful 
of  children  to  be  left  unshepherded  at  the  last 
moment.  Still,  until  the  War  drew  them  away 
into  more  tragic  occupations  we  owed  a  very  great 
debt  of  gratitude  to  our  voluntary  workers,  without 
whose  ungrudging  help  the  work  of  the  Centres 
would  have  lost  greatly  both  in  quality  and  in  extent. 
The  superintendents,  teachers,  and  voluntary 
workers  having  been  secured,  the  next  step  was  to  get 
the  children.  Cards  of  invitation  were  printed,  and 
at  each  Centre  the  headmasters  and  headmistresses 
not  only  of  the  school  at  which  the  Centre  was  held 
but  of  the  three  or  four  neighbouring-  schools,  were 
asked  to  distribute  a  certain  number  of  them,  choos- 
ing children  who,  from  their  home  circumstances, 
would   be   most   likely   to  benefit   by   the   Centre. 


THE  FIRST  SCHOOL  PLAY  CENTRES,   1904-7     15 

These  were  the  days  before  School  Care  Com- 
mittees existed,  so  that  we  were  bound  to  apply 
in  the  first  instance  for  all  such  information  to  the 
teachers,  but  they  responded  nobly  to  the  new  call 
made  upon  them,  and  in  almost  every  case  recog- 
nised at  once  how  much  the  new  organisation 
would  help  their  work,  by  helping  to  civilise  the 
children.  Occasionally  some  process  of  conversion 
was  needed,  especially  perhaps  in  the  case  of  the 
infant  mistresses  whose  halls  and  classrooms  we 
used,  for,  in  spite  of  the  utmost  care  on  the  part 
of  our  superintendents,  accidents  did  sometimes 
occur  with  the  multitudes  of  drawings  that  adorned 
the  walls,  or  with  the  growing  bulbs.  But  not 
many «  months  were  required  to  convince  all  the 
teachers  with  whom  we  had  to  deal  that  the  Play 
Centre  experiment  was  one  of  enormous  value  to 
the  children  whose  welfare  they  had  so  much  at 
heart,  and  once  this  was  realised  the  Play  Centres 
have  had  no  firmer  friends  than  the  teachers  of 
London's  elementary  schools. 

On  the  first  Monday  in  February,  1905,  the 
eight  Centres  opened,  with  an  average  attendance 
of  100  to  150  children  per  evening,  and  to  those 
who  anxiously  watched  the  experiment  it  was 
evident  from  the  first  that  it  would  be  successful. 
Coloured  cardboard  discs  were  dealt  out  to  the 
children,  the  different  colours  admitting  them  to 
the  Centre  on  different  evenings  in  the  week,  and 
it  was  wonderful  to  see  how  they  would  cherish 
these  circular    badges,  hanging  them   round  their 


1 6     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  EOR  CHILDREN 

necks  on  bits  of  tape  or  string,  and  often  writing 
their  names  on  them  in  the  pride  of  possession.1 
Attendances  gradually  rose  during  the  short  spring 
term,  then  dropped  a  little  when  the  games  were 
transferred  to  the  school  playgrounds  in  the  summer, 
and  in  the  autumn  rose  again  with  a  rush,  the 
Centres  at  Bethnal  Green  and  Hoxton  in  particular 
nearly  doubling  their  spring  numbers.  At  these 
first  Centres  a  system  of  "Double  Sessions"  was 
adopted  for  four  evenings  of  the  week  (Mondays, 
Tuesdays,  Thursdays,  and  Fridays)  whereby  a  first 
set  of  children  was  admitted  from  5.30  to  6.30 
and  a  second  set  from  6.30  to  7.30,  while  on 
Wednesday  evenings  and  Saturday  mornings  the 
same  children  remained  for  the  whole  period. 
"  An  hour  may  seem  a  short  attendance,"  wrote 
Mrs.  Ward  in  her  report  to  the  L.C.C.  in  1907, 
"  but  when  one  considers  the  going  and  coming, 
and  the  fact  that  the  children  are  always  at  the  gate 
at  least  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  the  Centre 
opens,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Play  Centre  attend- 
ance occupies  certainly  an  hour  and  a  half  of  the 
child's  evening,  which  in  the  majority  of  cases  is 
enough.  The  homeless  and  neglected  children  can, 
however,  attend  both  sessions  and  every  evening." 
It  is  in  the  records  of  these  "  every-evening 
children  "  that  some  of  our  most  pathetic  cases  are 
naturally  found.  The  superintendents  frequently 
visited  their  homes,  and  made  special  notes  on  the 
cases,  from  which  I  take  the  following  extracts  : — 
JThis  system  has  now  been  discontinued, 


THE  FiRST  SCHOOL  PLAY  CENTRES,  1904-7     17 

"  C.  D.  As  wild  a  boy  as  it  is  possible  to  find. 
Just  runs  wild.  Mother  quite  respectable,  but 
is  incapable  of  looking  after  him.  Boy  now 
continually  at  the  Centre." 

"  H.  O.  A  boy  who  has  been  made  to  feel 
that  he  is  in  every  one's  way.  Father  chronic 
invalid.  Mother  unable  to  support  her  child 
properly.  At  times  he  is  passed  around  from  one 
married  sister  to  another,  who  each  in  turn  tells 
the  boy  that  she  is  unable  to  keep  him.  Boy  of 
a  sour  disposition.  Sells  newspapers  and  roams 
the  streets.  Fond  of  coming  to  the  Centre, 
where  he  seems  to  look  for  sympathy." 

"  E.  C.  A  boy  from  a  most  respectable  home. 
During  his  mother's  lono-  illness  he  began  to  realise 
the  delights  of  the  streets,  although  only  seven 
years  old.  Having  been  to  visit  Mrs.  C.  several 
times  I  felt  sorry  to  see  this  really  delightful  child 
turning  rude  and  insolent  to  his  mother,  and  sug- 
gested the  Play  Centre.  Here  Ernie  is  a  model 
child,  and  his  mother's  verdict  is  :  '  Can  you  do 
with  him  every  evening?  He  comes  home  so 
good,  and  goes  to  bed  quite  quietly.' ' 

"  E.  P.  A  motherless  girl  of  twelve.  Has 
just  been  made  a  monitor,  and  thus  risen  to  the 
desired  position  of  being  an  '  every  evening  child '. 
This  week  she  is  librarian,  and  when  I  leave  her 
in  charge  of  forty  or  fifty  books  and  thirty  boys 
and  girls,  and  come  back  to  the  room  to  find 
perfect  order,  and  again  when  at  7  o'clock  I 
find   Elsie  silently  putting  the  books  away,   I    find 


iS     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN* 

it  hard  to  realise  that  she  is  the  rough  girl   I  used 
to  know. " 

"  M.  L.  Entered  the  Play  Centre,  I  believe, 
the  evening  it  opened,  nearly  three  years  ago,  and 
she  has,  I  think,  been  absent  from  it  one  evening! 
She  lives  in  one  of  the  worst  streets  adjoining 
the  canal,  and  from  what  I  have  seen  of  her 
family  I  should  say  she  had  not  many  home  ad- 
vantages. I  can  just  see  her  now  when  she  first 
came — rushing  madly  up  and  down  the  playground 
and  refusing  to  play  with  anyone.  Now  she  is 
toy-box  monitor,  and  about  every  six  weeks  she 
spends  an  evening  in  a  quiet  corner,  quite  alone, 
or  perhaps  helped  by  her  assistant,  tidying  her 
box.  At  intervals  she  is  seen  hurrying  along  with 
a  waste-paper  basket  full  of  rubbish,  or  a  lost 
treasure  from  the  cupboard,  and  at  7  o'clock  I 
am  shown  with  pride  a  tidy  box,  a  pile  of  rubbish, 
and  a  second  pile  of  '  these  what  I  wasn't  sure 
about '." 

"  F.  G.  '  Mother  says,  can  I  come  every  night?  ' 
was  the  request  made  by  Florrie  G.  On  enquiry 
I  found  Mrs.  G.  is  a  widow  ;  she  goes  out  washing, 
and  does  not  return  until  10  o'clock  at  night,  and 
so,  evening  after  evening,  wet  or  fine,  Florrie 
stands  at  the  door  of  the  Play  Centre,  until  the 
happy  moment  when  the  door  opens  and  an  eager 
voice  says,  '  Miss,  can  I  go  in  the  toy-room  ?  " 

"Three  Motherless  Children.  'Oh,  I  do  like 
that  Play  Centre  for  them ! '  was  a  remark  made 
by  a  most  respectable  father  of  three  motherless 


THE  FIRST  SCHOOL  PLAY  CENTRES,   1904-7     19 

children,  aged  fourteen,  twelve,  and  nine.  '  You 
see,  I'm  out,  and  their  aunt  she  don't  understand 
children.  She's  that  strict  it  worries  me.'  '  Miss, 
Auntie  says  could  we  come  every  night  ?  She 
don't  like  us  in  the  streets,'  pleaded  the  eldest, 
and  so  they  were  all  admitted  every  evening. 
Ethel  has  just  gone  to  work,  but  at  6.30  she  is 
generally  to  be  seen  slipping  quietly  in,  after  a 
day  at  the  machine,  and  joining  in  singing  games 
or  '  minding  '  the  toy-room." 

"G.'s  (three  boys).  From  fairly  decent  home, 
but  neglected,  and  allowed  to  be  in  the  streets 
at  all  hours.  When  I  first  visited  Mrs.  G.  she 
bewailed  their  insolence,  and  said  that  they  were 
always  in  mischief  when  they  came  from  school. 
They  all  gave  a  lot  of  trouble  at  the  Play  Centre 
at  first — twice  they  were  not  allowed  to  come  for 
some  time,  but  were  taken  back  on  the  mother's 
begging  for  another  trial.  One  is  now  a  monitor, 
and  generally  quite  equal  to  any  impish  new  boy's 
tricks,  and  Mrs.  G.  says  that  they  are  usually  quite 
ready  to  go  indoors  quietly  to  bed.  She  only 
wishes  the  Play  Centre  opened  on  Sundays  !  " 

The  year  1905  ended  with  a  total  weekly  attend- 
ance, at  all  the  Centres,  of  5846  children,  and  their 
progress  in  the  next  year  was  so  rapid  that  by 
December,  1906,  these  figures  were  nearly  doubled, 
reaching  10,030.  Two  of  the  original  centres  had 
been  closed,  owing  to  the  inadequacy  of  the  premises, 
and  three  new  centres  opened — in  Battersea,  Ful- 
ham,  and    Poplar.     And    indeed    the   further  our 


20     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

indefatigable  secretaries,  Miss  Churcher  and  Miss 
Taubman,  went  in  their  investigations,  the  more 
convincing  were  the  proofs  they  brought  of  the 
almost  universal  need  for  Play  Centres.  Here  is 
the  testimony  of  a  Hoxton  schoolmaster,  who 
had  made  some  real  attempt  to  familiarise  himself 
with  the  home  life  of  his  boys.  "  I  will  only  write 
of  that  which  I  have  seen  and  come  in  contact  with 
during  my  twenty-two  years  as  a  teacher  in  Hoxton. 
Many  of  the  families  live  in  one  room,  and  often 
during  the  whole  of  the  evening  the  children  are 
huddled  together  here,  in  this  one  ill-lit  and  badly- 
ventilated  room.  Father  very  soon  goes  out  to  the 
public  house,  and  probably  mother  too  ;  result — the 
children  wait  until  they  return  before  going  to  bed. 
A  hard  case  is  that  where  the  mother  goes  to  work 
and  returns,  perhaps,  at  8  p.m.  or  later.  Children 
cannot  be  trusted  indoors,  they  therefore  play  in  the 
streets.  If  they  are  allowed  indoors  they  must  not 
have  light — it  would  be  dangerous  and  also  expen- 
sive. They  naturally,  therefore,  seek  the  streets, 
where  they  play  or  huddle  together  '  until  mother 
comes  home  '.  Many  a  plan  is  here  laid  for  petty 
theft.  The  smaller  ones  are  encouraged  to  beg 
from  the  shopkeepers,  and  are  often  compelled  by 
the  older  ones  to  steal  from  the  shops  whilst  they, 
the  older  ones,  wait  round  the  corner.  I  have  seen 
twenty  children  of  all  ages  playing  outside  a  public 
house  for  hours,  amid  sights  which  render  them 
callous.  If  it  rains  they  seek  a  sheltered  side  street, 
and  play  there  to  the  accompaniment  of  virulent 


PLAYGROUND   CRICKET 


POPLAR     PLAY    CENTRE     FOOTBALL    CLUB 


THE  FIRST  SCHOOL  PLAY  CENTRES,   1904-7     21 

abuse  from  the  occupiers  of  the  houses.  My  ex- 
perience of  London  children  is  that  they  do  not 
know  how  to  play.  It  would  be  a  good  work 
merely  to  teach  them  how  to  play.  But  again, 
speaking  from  twenty-two  years'  experience  of  boys 
in  London,  no  game  is  enjoyed  by  them  which  does 
not  give  opportunity  for  gambling.  They  gamble 
with  buttons,  screws,  cherry -stones,  and  picture-cards 
from  packets  of  cigarettes.  I  have  seen  boys  play- 
ing a  real  game  of  "banker"  with  these  picture- 
cards,  sitting  silently  for  two  hours  at  a  stretch 
absorbed  in  the  game." 

To  these  doubtful  occupations  we  opposed  the  at- 
traction of  something  to  do  or  something  to  make  at 
the  Play  Centre,  and  for  the  bigger  boys  handwork 
of  every  sort  was  an  unfailing  magnet.  "  Perhaps 
the  most  striking  revelation  of  the  whole  work," 
wrote  Mrs.  Ward  in  her  Report  to  the  L.C.C., 
"  has  been  the  positive  hunger  for  hand  occupation 
which  exists  among  the  older  children.  The  at- 
tendances at  the  handwork  classes  drop  off  a  little 
when  June  begins,  and  from  June  to  October  1 
they  are  better  discontinued  in  favour  of  cricket, 
swimming,  and  outdoor  games  in  general.  But 
from  October  onwards  through  the  whole  winter 
and  up  to  the  end  of  May,  the  demand  for  hand- 
work never  slackens.  Two  or  three  times  the 
number  of  children  who  are  now  being  taught 
would  eagerly  come  to  the  classes  if  we  could  ad- 
mit them.  Basket-work,  woodwork,  and  cobbling 
are   unfailing  delights.      Rough  boys,  who    would 


22     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  EOR  CHILDREN 

soon,  if  left  to  themselves,  become  on  leaving  school 
a  nuisance  to  the  community  and  to  the  police,  can 
be  got  hold  of  through  handwork,  and  in  no  other 
way.  And  when  once  the  taste  is  acquired,  there 
remains  the  strong  probability  that  after  school  is 
over  they  will  be  drawn  into  the  net  of  Evening 
Classes  and  Polytechnics,  and  so  rescued  for  an 
honest  life."  At  nearly  all  the  Centres  we  found 
that  a  Cobbling  Class  was  one  of  the  most  attractive 
that  we  could  offer  ;  a  local  shoemaker  was  en- 
gaged,1 and  a  class  of  about  fifteen  older  boys 
opened,  and  since  quite  three  times  that  number 
were  eager  to  join,  the  places  usually  had  to  be  as- 
signed by  lot.  First  the  boys  were  taught  to  patch 
and  sole  their  own  broken-down  boots,  till  their 
pride  and  astonishment  at  the  result  were  delightful 
to  see  ;  then  gradually  they  would  bring  all  the 
family  repairs,  or  do  those  of  other  children  who 
came  to  the  Centre,  and  one  boy  at  the  Poplar 
Centre  actually  taught  his  father  to  cobble !  This 
family  were  emigrated  to  Canada  a  little  later  by 
the  Poplar  Distress  Committee,  and  in  a  letter 
received  by  the  Superintendent  soon  after  their 
arrival  the  father  wrote  :  "  Whatever  happens  to  us 
in  this  big,  lonely  country  we  shall  never  forget  the 
Play  Centre.  Even  on  board  we  were  able  to  earn 
a  little  by  patching  the  passengers'  boots,  and  they 
said  the  repairs  were  most  'shoppy'." 

Woodwork  and  basket-making  were  equally  suc- 
cessful in  attracting  the  older  boys,  and  in  our  choice 

1  Nqw  our  cobbling  teachers  are  all  regular  L.C.C.  Instructors. 


THE  FIRST  SCHOOL  PLAY  CENTRES,   1904-7     23 

of  schools  for  the  Centres  we  were  largely  guided 
by  the  consideration  as  to  whether  or  not  they 
possessed  Manual  Training  Centres.  Since  only 
about  one  in  five  of  our  London  Schools  were 
equipped  with  them,  however,  it  was  not  always 
possible  to  locate  the  Centres  at  those  schools  ;  but 
wherever  we  did  have  the  use  of  a  Manual  Training 
Centre  we  decided  from  the  first  to  open  our  classes 
mainly  to  those  boys  who,  from  their  backwardness 
in  school  work,  would  have  no  chance  of  any  manual 
training  as  part  of  their  school  curriculum.  At  the 
Hoxton  Centre,  for  instance,  we  held  three  wood- 
work classes  a  week,  under  the  Manual  Training 
Instructor  employed  by  the  L.C.C.,  and  of  the 
seventy-five  boys  over  eleven  who  attended  these 
classes,  sixty-three  would  have  had  no  chance  of 
Manual  Training  in  their  ordinary  school  course. 
At  the  Ratcliff  Centre  we  had  an  attendance  of 
eighty  boys  per  week  for  woodwork,  and  anyone 
who  visited  these  classes  on  a  wet,  dark  evening, 
and  beheld  the  energy  and  perseverance  with  which 
the  boys  handled  their  tools,  and  the  good  work 
they  turned  out,  could  not  fail  to  be  convinced  that 
here  again  was  a  case  of  genuine  need,  genuine 
tool-hzmger,  adequately  met  by  a  very  simple 
provision. 

Meanwhile  the  success  of  the  Play  Centre  experi- 
ment had  drawn  the  attention  of  Parliament  towards 
the  whole  problem  of  the  State's  obligation  in  the 
matter  of  the  children's  play-time,  and  in  1906  the 


24     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

opportunity  arose  on  Mr.  Birrell's  Education  Bill 
for  getting- some  real  recognition  of  the  Play  Centre 
principle  embodied  in  an  Act  of  Parliament.  Mrs. 
Ward  and  the  Play  Centre  Committee  worked  hard 
to  get  a  suitable  clause  drafted  and  accepted  by  the 
authorities,  and  on  one  memorable  evening  Mrs. 
Ward  took  Mr.  Birrell  to  the  Somers  Town  Play 
Centre  and  convinced  him  by  ocular  demonstration 
that  the  thing  was  both  possible  and  desirable. 
Finally  a  clause  was  embodied  in  the  Bill,  by  which 
power  was  given  to  any  Local  Education  Authority 
"  to  provide  for  children  attending  a  public  ele- 
mentary school,  vacation  schools,  vacation  classes, 
play  centres,  or  means  of  recreation  during  their 
holidays  or  at  such  other  times  as  the  Local  Educa- 
tion Authority  may  prescribe,  in  the  schoolhouse  or 
in  some  other  suitable  place  in  the  vicinity  ".  The 
Children's  Happy  Evenings  Association  opposed 
the  Clause,  on  the  ground  that  it  might  endanger 
the  work  of  voluntary  associations,  and  sent  a  depu- 
tation to  Mr.  Birrell  to  explain  their  apprehensions 
and  to  plead  at  any  rate  for  the  insertion  of  the 
following  sub-clause  :  "  Provided  that  in  any  exer- 
cise of  powers  under  this  section,  the  Local  Edu- 
cation Authority  shall  encourage  and  assist  the 
continuance  or  establishment  of  Voluntary  Agencies 
and  associate  with  itself  representatives  of  Voluntary 
Associations  for  the  purpose".  Mr.  Birrell  prac- 
tically accepted  the  sub-clause,  provided  that  the 
word  "may"  were  substituted  for  "shall,"  and  in 
this  form  the  clause  passed  the  House  of  Lords  in 


WOODWORK 


BASKET-WORK     CLASS 


THE  FIRST  SCHOOL  PLAY  CENTRES,   1904-7     25 

November,  1906.  Mr.  Sydney  Buxton,  in  a  speech 
at  the  opening  of  our  Vacation  School  that  summer, 
amused  us  all  by  saying-  that  he  felt  sure  the  clause 
would  go  down  to  history  as  the  "  Mary  Ward 
Clause ".  But  the  Bill  was  wrecked  upon  other 
rocks  than  this,  and  in  the  next  year  a  smaller  Bill, 
known  as  the  "  Education  (Administrative  Provi- 
sions) Bill,  1907,"  safely  passed  both  Houses  of 
Parliament,  embodying  the  clause  which  was  to  be 
the  Children's  Charter  in  the  matter  of  organised 
recreation  after  school  hours.  Our  Committee 
rejoiced  exceedingly  at  the  result,  for  it  foresaw 
that  the  problem  of  wholesome  occupation  during 
play -time  was  bigger  than  any  voluntary  association 
could  cope  with,  and  it  looked  to  that  fruitful  co- 
operation between  the  State  and  the  volunteer 
which  has  so  often,  in  this  country  of  compromises, 
led  the  way  to  reform. 

But  it  was  one  thing  to  enable  the  Local 
Authorities  to  spend  money  on  the  play-time  of 
their  children,  and  another  to  convince  them  of  the 
necessity  of  doing  so.  As  things  turned  out,  the 
country  was  not  yet  ready  for  so  great  an  extension 
of  its  educational  system,  and  another  ten  years  of 
arduous  work  was  necessary  before  the  Board  of 
Education  could  take  the  decisive  step  which  has 
opened  the  way  to  Play  Centres  and  Recreation 
Schools  in  every  part  of  the  United  Kingdom. 


CHAPTER   III 

The  Struggle  with  Finance — Appeals  for  New  Centres — Chil- 
dren under  Probation  Officers — The  Police — The  Parents 
— Growing  Attendances — A  Centre  at  Work — The  Play 
Centre  Exhibition,  19 13 — The  Outbreak  of  War 

THE  cost  of  each  Centre  during  the  first  year  of 
their  existence  (1905)  was  about  ^120,  but 
with  the  continuous  rise  in  attendances  the  cost  also 
was  bound  to  increase,  so  that  by  the  end  of  1907 
it  had  reached  ^240  per  Centre  and  by  191 2, 
^280.  The  increase  was  mainly  accounted  for  by 
the  additional  teaching  required  for  the  handwork, 
drill,  and  gymnastic  classes — an  addition  of  nearly 
,£1000  between  1905  and  1907 — but  this  expendi- 
ture was  amply  justified  by  the  results  obtained,  for 
in  no  other  way  could  the  children  have  been 
permanently  attracted  from  the  life  of  the  streets. 
The  problem,  however,  of  raising  the  large  and 
increasing  sums  that  were  annually  required,  and 
of  meeting  the  demands  for  new  Centres  that  soon 
began  to  reach  us,  was  one  that  taxed  Mrs.  Ward's 
resources  to  the  uttermost,  and  I  remember  many 
crises  in  the  Play  Centre  affairs,  when  we  were 
faced  with  the  necessity  of  closing  one  or  two  of 
the  Centres  unless  immediate  help  could  be  forth- 

26 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  FINANCE  27 

coming.  But,  somehow  or  other,  these  crises 
always  were  surmounted,  now  by  the  conversion  of 
some  rich  City  Company  to  our  cause,  now  by  the 
capture  of  some  fresh  London  landlord,  anxious  to 
acknowledge  in  this  way  the  debt  he  owed  to 
London's  children,  now,  perhaps,  by  a  direct  ap- 
proach to  the  owners  of  some  big  factory  in  a 
district  served  by  a  Play  Centre.  But  at  the  end 
of  the  year  the  accounts  usually  showed  a  deficit 
of  several  hundred  pounds,  and  then  Mrs.  Ward 
would  gather  up  the  most  remarkable  facts  of  the 
year's  work  in  a  letter  to  "  The  Times,"  and  by  the 
sheer  persuasiveness  of  what  she  had  to  tell  would 
compel  the  kind-hearted  to  contribute  their  guineas. 
Usually  these  letters  brought  in  from  ^400  to  ^600. 
Thus  we  carried  on,  gradually  increasing  the 
number  of  Centres  as  our  funds  permitted  it,  but 
the  precariousness  of  the  whole  situation- — depend- 
ing solely  as  it  did  upon  Mrs.  Ward's  power  to 
maintain,  year  after  year,  the  very  large  subscription 
list  required — made  the  question  of  State  assistance 
an  ever-present  one  in  our  thoughts.  After  the 
Act  of  1907  had  been  passed,  Mrs.  Ward  made  an 
appeal  to  the  London  County  Council  to  defray  the 
cost  of  the  Handwork,  Drill,  and  Gymnastic  classes 
held  at  all  the  Centres,  but  the  Council,  burdened 
in  1908  with  the  cost  of  School  Dinners  and 
Medical  Inspections,  refused  to  go  further  than 
to  remit  the  charge  they  had  been  making  us  for 
the  cleaning  and  caretaking  of  the  schools.  This 
amounted  to  a  grant  of  about  ^20  per  Centre,  and 


28     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

the  money  so  saved  was  gladiy  used  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  new  classes  and  the  admission  of  fresh 
children,  but  did  not  give  any  permanent  relief  to 
our  finances. 

In  the  meantime  letters  began  to  reach  our  office 
(a  room  at  the  Passmore  Edwards  Settlement)  from 
some  of  the  newly-established  School  Care  Com- 
mittees of  London's  poorest  districts,  appealing  for 
the  establishment  of  Play  Centres  in  their  schools. 

"The  Care  Committee  of  this  school  (Riley 
Street,  Bermondsey),"  wrote  the  Chairman  in  191 1, 
"  understand  that  there  is  some  possibility  of  getting 
a  Play  Centre  provided  somewhere  in  Bermondsey, 
and  they  would  like  to  point  out  how  much  a  pro- 
vision of  this  sort  is  needed.  A  large  number  of 
the  mothers  of  the  children  work  in  the  local 
factories,  and  they  do  not  return  home  until  some 
hours  after  the  children  have  left  school.  A 
good  many  children  have  very  little  supervision 
during  the  earlier  hours  of  the  evening — the  streets, 
even  on  damp,  dirty  nights,  provide  their  only  play- 
ground. There  is  no  doubt  that  the  undisciplined 
life  of  the  streets  helps  to  counteract  the  efforts 
made  by  the  Teachers  during  school  hours,  and 
makes  it  very  difficult  to  give  effective  training  in 
orderly  and  industrious  habits.  The  children  have 
no  idea  of  recreative  occupation,  and  begin  even 
in  their  school  days  to  loaf  about  the  corners  of 
the  streets — and  some  of  them  inevitably  become 
regular  hooligans."  Another  Care  Committee  in 
South  London,  asking  us  for  help  in  starting  a  Play 


APPEALS  FOR  NEW  CENTRES  29 

Centre,  stated  that  they  had  carefully  investigated 
the  cases  of  100  children  from  one  school,  and  that 
67  of  these  were  found  to  be  locked  out  of  their 
homes  till  seven,  eight,  and  even  nine  o'clock  at 
night.  And  of  these  6j,  one-third  were  under  7 
years  of  age.  This  was  borne  out  by  an  appeal  we 
received  from  the  owner  of  a  jam  factory  in  the 
same  district,  who  offered  to  defray  part  of  the  cost 
of  a  Play  Centre  if  it  could  be  established  near  his 
works,  because  the  children  used  to  come  down  to  the 
facto7-y  gates  in  the  evenings  and  cry  till  their 
mothers  came  out. 

Such  appeals  were  not  to  be  resisted,  and  gradu- 
ally the  numbers  of  our  Centres  rose  from  eight  to 
twelve  (1908),  from  twelve  to  fifteen  (19 10),  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  (1914).  Our  co-operation  with 
the  Care  Committees  became  closer,  and  in  Dept- 
ford  an  interesting  experiment  was  carried  out,  by 
which  a  local  Care  Committee  undertook  to  pro- 
vide a  regular  band  of  voluntary  workers  if  we  on 
our  side  would  supply  a  superintendent  and  assume 
responsibility  for  the  Centre  before  the  London 
County  Council.  This  arrangement  has  worked 
excellently,  and  the  Deptford  Centre  is  now  an 
"affiliated"  one  administered  by  its  local  Com- 
mittee, which  has  succeeded  in  raising  half  the 
funds  required  for  its  maintenance,  while  we  have 
provided  the  other  half. 

Not  only  the  Care  Committees,  however,  but 
even  the  police  and  the  magistrates  began  to  raise 
their    voices    in    favour   of    Play    Centres.       Mr. 


3o     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

Samuel's  Children's  Act  (1908)  had  created  the 
system  of  "  Probation  Officers  "  for  the  supervision 
of  youthful  offenders,  and  wherever  a  Play  Centre 
was  within  reach  it  became  the  practice  of  these 
officers  (two  or  three  of  whom  were  chosen  from 
among  our  superintendents)  to  assign  the  boys 
under  their  care  to  the  Centre  as  every-night 
children.  The  superintendents  were  asked  to 
keep  a  special  eye  on  these  cases,  and  the  follow- 
ing reports  are  typical  of  the  kind  of  difficulties  that 
we  or  their  parents  had  to  contend  with  : — 

11 E.  T.,  9  years.  Visited  home  October  4, 
and  saw  Mrs.  T.  ;  very  decent,  clean-looking  place. 
Said  she  had  heard  about  the  Play  Centre.  She 
had  very  little  control  over  the  boy,  though  he  was 
only  nine  ;  he  would  rove  all  over  London  in  spite 
of  all  her  trying  to  keep  him  in — not  mischief  or 
badness,  but  simply  for  want  of  something  to  do. 
Was  very  grateful  that  he  should  be  allowed  to 
attend  every  night,  and  promised  to  take  him  her- 
self to-night." 

"  E.  B.,  9  years.  Reported  as  having  been  in 
a  Remand  Home  for  a  week  for  begging.  The 
mother  said  the  streets  had  got  such  a  hold  on  him 
that  she  had  now  always  to  keep  him  indoors  after 
he  had  been  brought  home  from  school  by  a  bigger 
brother.  She  agreed,  however,  to  try  letting  him 
go  to  the  Garden  Evenings  at  the  Passmore 
Edwards  Settlement,  which  is  fortunately  very 
near  his  home." 

Some  weeks  later,  the   superintendent  reports  : 


SINGING    GAMES 


PLAYGROUND     DRILL— RATCLIFF    CENTRE 


CHILDREN  UNDER  PROBATION  OFFICERS     31 

"  E.  B.  has  been  fairly  regular  in  attendance  at  the 
Garden,  and  when  not  here  has  nearly  always 
come  and  given  me  a  shout  to  say  that  he  has  the 
baby  to  mind,  and  so  cannot  come.  He  is  a  very 
affectionate  little  fellow,  but  difficult  to  manage, 
as  he  wants  so  much  attention.  He  is  never  happy 
with  any  game  or  play  for  more  than  ten  minutes 
at  a  time,  and  his  constant  cry  is,  '  What  can  I 
do  next  ?  '  When  the  winter  classes  re-open  next 
week  I  think  he  will  at  first  have  to  be  my  special 
monitor  and  run  about  on  little  errands  for  me. 
He  is  very  fond  of  being  read  to,  and  takes  an 
intelligent  interest  in  what  is  being  read  to  him, 
but  he  must  be  the  one  you  are  reading  to,  and 
no  notice  must  be  taken  of  anyone  else.  At 
present  I  think  the  only  way  to  influence  him  is 
to  try  and  gain  his  affection." 

"A.  and  F.  N.,  11  and  9  years.  Charged  with 
begging.  After  being  for  six  months  at  the  Hoxton 
Centre  as  every-night  children,  the  superintendent 
reports  ;  'Mrs.  N.  has  been  much  distressed  when 
the  boys  got  into  trouble.  I  promised  to  let  her 
know  every  time  they  failed  to  attend  the  Play 
Centre.  This  has  happened  only  once,  however ! 
A.  has  shown  a  great  interest  in  painting  and 
drawing,  and  has  some  originality  ;  he  also  reads 
most  diligently  in  the  library.  We  cannot  al- 
together trust  the  boy  yet,  but  when  (under 
supervision)  he  is  allowed  to  do  monitor's  work, 
he  does  it  extremely  well.  F.  has  shown  no 
particular  talent,  but  he  is  regular  at  the  Centre, 
and  appears  to  be  very  happy'." 


$2     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

This  method  of  curing  the  lawlessness  of  the 
London  street-boy  very  soon  began  to  draw  the 
attention  of  the  police  and  the  Home  Office 
authorities  generally.  "It  seems  to  me,"  wrote 
a  probation  officer,  "that  Play  Centres  are  just 
as  necessary  as  free  meals,  for  the  morally  starved 
children."  The  police  on  beats  round  our  Centres 
used  to  tell  the  superintendents  that  the  Centres 
enormously  lightened  their  work,  and  that  they 
would  like  to  see  them  extended  all  over  London. 
And  presently  a  hard-working  stipendiary  magis- 
trate at  Woolwich,  who  had  heard  of  the  Centres 
from  his  probation  officer,  wrote  to  Mrs.  Ward  to 
appeal  for  a  Centre  in  that  district,  and  promised 
to  raise  local  funds  in  its  support.  A  Centre  was 
accordingly  opened  at  Woolwich  in  February,  191 3, 
under  the  same  arrangement  as  the  Deptford 
Centre — that  is  to  say,  our  Committee  supplying 
and  paying  the  superintendent,  and  the  local  Com- 
mittee providing  half  the  remaining  cost  of  the 
Centre  and  finding  some  voluntary  helpers.  One 
pictures  the  magistrate  (Mr.  Symmons)  looking  in 
on  a  raw  winter  evening  and  recognising  some 
juvenile  acquaintance  of  the  Courts,  now  patching 
the  family's  boots,  or  absorbed  in  draughts  or 
"snakes  and  ladders  "  ! 

But  if  these  were  the  opinions  of  the  police, 
what  of  the  parents  ?  What  of  the  many  thousands 
of  men  and  women  with  whom  we  came  in  contact, 
whose  lives  were  one  continual  struggle  with  poverty, 
illness,  and  dirt,  in  crowded  "buildings"  or  in  the 


THE  PARENTS  33 

slums  of  Bethnal  Green  or  Bermondsey  ?  Did 
they  grudge  us  their  children,  or  feel  that  we  were 
taking  them  away  from  "home"?  Alas,  no,  for 
the  dingy  rooms  they  lived  in  hardly  deserved  the 
name,  and  as  one  baby  succeeded  another  the  very 
space  was  lacking  for  the  elder  children,  let  alone 
the  games  and  occupations  which  would  have  kept 
them  "out  of  mother's  way".  It  may  seem  the 
bitterest  reproach  of  all  against  our  civilisation,  but 
the  fact  remains  that  in  the  homes  of  the  poor  there 
is  no  place  for  the  growing  children,  and  that  the 
mothers  and  fathers,  over  and  over  again,  came  to 
express  to  us  their  gratitude  for  the  shelter  and 
happiness  bestowed  by  the  Play  Centre.  One  of 
us  was  standing  one  evening  beside  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  Hoxton  Centre  when  she  opened 
the  playground  gate  to  admit  the  little  waiting 
crowd.  A  mother  pushed  forward  five  little  ones 
— "  Here  they  are,  Miss,  all  five  of  them  " — then, 
turning  to  the  visitor — "  Now  I  know  they're  safe 
for  two  hours,  and  perhaps  I  can  do  a  bit  of  clean- 
ing and  sewing!"  Or  take  the  case  of  two  boys, 
"described  to  me,"  writes  the  superintendent,  "as 
rough  and  rude,  and  always  in  mischief — the  worst 
boys  in  the  neighbourhood.  Their  mother  told  me 
she  did  not  find  them  troublesome  but  simply  could 
not  keep  them  indoors,  though  she  knew  the  influ- 
ence of  the  streets  was  bad  for  them.  It  is  not 
easy  to  keep  strong,  healthy,  active  boys  in  small 
rooms,  with  little  or  nothing  to  occupy  them.  I 
have   never    found    anything    wrong    with    them 


34     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

except  that  they  needed  occupation.  They  have 
been  to  the  Centre  every  night  for  the  past  year, 
and  are  now  monitors — most  helpful  and  capable." 
Or  again,  in  a  more  tragic  note — "  The  C's.  Three 
boys  and  a  girl.  In  this  family  the  father's 
drunkenness  is  the  cause  of  the  distress.  He  de- 
serts the  family  periodically.  The  mother  expressed 
her  gratitude  for  the  protection  the  Play  Centre 
afforded  her  children,  as  she  feared  the  conse- 
quences if  they  were  at  home  with  the  father  while 
she  was  at  work.  She  does  her  best  to  keep  them 
ignorant  of  the  father's  ways." 

But  indeed  such  evidence  could  be  multiplied 
indefinitely,  and  not  least  from  the  mouths  of  the 
careful  and  anxious  parents  who  did  try  to  keep 
their  children  "  out  of  the  streets  "  as  much  as  pos- 
sible. These  parents  realised  that  their  growing 
boys  and  girls  needed  the  recreation  and  occupation 
which  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  give,  in  the 
crowded  rooms  where  every  process  of  life  and 
death  had  to  take  place  within  the  few  square  feet 
that  the  London  tenement  house  afforded  them  ; 
and  yet  they  were  most  unwilling  that  their  children 
should  roam  the  streets,  with  all  their  dangers, 
physical  and  moral.  And  so  when  the  Play  Centre 
opened  near  by,  they  would  send  the  children  there 
rejoicing,  and  if  they  were  obliged  to  leave  the 
neighbourhood,  "mother"  would  find  a  moment 
to  call  at  the  Centre  and  thank  the  superintendent 
for  all  that  she  had  done  for  her  little  ones.  "  A 
family  of  six  children  came  to  say  good-bye  last 


GROWING  ATTENDANCES  35 

Friday  to  their  Play  Centre  friends.  The  mother 
came  round  later  and  told  me  she  and  the  children 
were  sailing  for  'America  that  evening,  but  she  felt 
before  she  went  she  must  come  and  thank  me 
for  the  happy  times  the  children  had  had  at  the 
Centre."  And  again- — "  Thank  God  for  the  Play 
Centre,  Miss,  for  we  know  the  children  are  safe. 
And  I'm  not  the  only  mother  as  says  so,  Miss!  " 

Thus  the  Centres  orew  and  flourished,  during 
the  seven  years  between  the  passing  of  the  "Ad- 
ministrative Provisions  Act"  in  1907  and  the  out- 
break of  the  War,  their  numbers  only  limited  by 
the  limits  of  the  Fund,  the  numbers  of  children 
dealt  with  increasing  almost  beyond  our  power  to 
cope  with  them.  A  table  of  the  attendances  during 
these  years  will  show  this  at  a  glance  : — 

Play  Centre  Attendances 

1907  .        .        .    418. 113.        1911        .        .     1,170,962. 

1908  .        .        .    619,521.        1912        .        .     1,322,936. 

1909  .        .        .     738-496-        1913        ■        •     1,510,381. 

1910  •         •  •     933^33-  i9r4         •         •      1,752,173. 
When  it  is  remembered  that  all  these  attendances 

were  purely  voluntary  and  that  no  pressure  was 
ever  exercised  upon  the  children  in  the  form  of 
treats,  buns,  or  oranges  to  make  them  attend  more 
regularly,  it  will  be  seen  that  these  figures  represent 
merely  the  fundamental  craving  for  occupation, 
warmth,  and  shelter  which  besets  all  child-nature. 
It  was  no  uncommon  thing,  in  the  winter  of  191 2-13, 


36     EVENING   PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

for  our  larger  Centres  to  accommodate  900  to  1000 
children  per  evening,  and  the  attendances  at  all  the 
Centres  reached  an  average  of  52,000  per  week. 
To  visit,  say,  the  Poplar  or  Bow  Centre  on  a  murky 
London  evening,  and  to  see  all  the  varieties  of 
occupation  with  which  the  school  building  hummed, 
was  a  revelation  in  the  results  to  be  obtained  from 
simple  care  in  supervision  and  the  use  of  good 
material.  To  begin  with,  the  discipline  was  never 
too  tight,  though  it  was  always  there,  for  we  wished 
the  atmosphere  of  the  Centre  to  be  one  of  Play, 
not  one  of  School,  and  so  long  as  a  child  did  not 
interfere  with  the  toys  of  his  neighbour  he  was 
encouraged  to  enjoy  his  own  with  the  utmost 
freedom.  An  important  feature  of  each  Centre 
was  the  "  Quiet  Games  Room  "  for  both  boys  and 
girls,  where  often  as  many  as  sixty  children  were 
congregated  together.  At  a  new  Centre  the  Games 
Room  was  likely  at  first  to  be  the  despair  of 
a  worker  who  had  never  had  charge  of  such  a  room 
before  (I  remember  my  own  feelings  at  the  Fulham 
Centre,  where  I  undertook  it  throughout  one 
winter!),  and  even  experienced  workers  knew  that 
for  the  first  few  weeks  at  any  rate  they  would  need 
much  patience,  much  tact,  and  an  eye  everywhere. 
For  the  whole  thing  was  so  new  to  the  children  ; 
they  tired  of  a  game  in  a  few  minutes,  and  wanted 
to  try  something  else  ;  they  had  to  be  taught  how 
to  play  "  Picture  Lotto,"  "  Who  Knows?"  "  Happy 
Families,"  "Snap,"  etc.  And  the  boys  didn't 
know  how  to    play  draughts,  and   didn't  want   to 


SINGING    GAMES 


A  CENTRE  AT  WORK  37 

wait  their  turn  with  the  bagatelle-board.  But  go 
into  the  Quiet  Games  Room  at  one  of  the  older 
Centres,  and  notice  the  difference.  The  children 
know  what  they  want  to  play,  and  quickly  settle 
down  to  it,  forming  their  little  groups  quite  naturally 
and  takinof  their  turns  as  a  matter  of  course.  The 
bigger  boys  are  absorbed  in  their  draughts,  quite 
undisturbed  by  the  cheerful  chatter  going  on  all 
round  them,  while  the  voluntary  worker  in  charge 
will  tell  you  that  many  of  them  are  now  really 
first-rate  players  for  their  age. 

Two  or  even  three  of  the  big  halls  will  be  in  use 
at  the  same  time  for  singing  games,  dancing,  drill 
or  gymnastics,  and  here  it  is  pitiful  to  see  the  eager- 
ness of  the  little  bodies  glowing  through  the 
awkward  clothes  !  Boots  and  coats  are  laid  aside 
for  the  gymnastics,  and  as  few  of  the  boys  can 
afford  tennis  shoes  the  usual  thing  is  to  see  them 
drilling,  jumping,  or  leaping  the  "horse"  with  bare 
feet,  and  attaining  great  proficiency  in  the  use  of 
their  apparatus  too.  Once  a  week,  however,  the 
babies  of  4  to  7  are  allowed  the  use  of  one  of  the 
halls  (though  there  is  always  a  Babies'  Room  as 
well),  and  here  on  the  smooth  boards  they  run 
about  to  their  heart's  content  with  their  engines, 
and  horses,  and  go-carts,  making  whatever  noise 
best  pleases  them.  The  Cobbling  and  Basket- 
work  Rooms  will  also  be  filled  with  as  many  children 
as  the  instructor  can  possibly  take,  while  painting, 
drawing,  and  plasticine-modelling  attract  each  its 
small    crowd    of   younger    ones,    and    the    objects 

47893 


3S    EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

produced  in  the  Plasticine  Room  especially  tax  the 
imagination  of  the  visitor.  The  children  eagerly 
hold  them  out  for  inspection  and  admiration,  and 
when  you  are  just  deciding  that  the  model  before 
you  must  be  a  loaf  of  bread  on  a  table  its  owner 
will  proudly  announce,  "  my  baby,  in  its  pram  !  " — 
or  what  is  to  you  quite  evidently  a  tree  torn  up  by 
the  roots  will  be  explained  as  "  a  'orse  and  cart, 
Miss"! 

In  the  Woodwork  class  at  the  Manual  Train- 
ing- Centre  across  the  playground,  however,  the 
standard  of  excellence  attained  is  higher  than 
this.  Here  the  boys  are  taught  by  the  professional 
instructor  who  takes  the  Day  Manual  classes, 
but  the  whole  atmosphere  of  our  classes  is  freer 
than  that  of  the  day  classes  ;  the  models  used 
differ  from  those  of  the  day  classes  in  that  they 
are  not  from  drawings  to  scale,  and  moreover  the 
boys  are  allowed  to  move  about  and  talk,  and  the 
only  rule  enforced  is  that  when  a  model  is  once 
begun  it  must  be  finished.  This  freedom,  how- 
ever, does  not  appear  to  detract  at  all  from  the 
value  of  the  work  turned  out,  and  to  the  untrained 
eye  at  least  the  models  produced  by  the  boys — 
the  engines,  picture-frames,  aeroplanes,  railway- 
stations,  bridges,  inlaid  trays,  draught-boards,  baga- 
telle-boards and  money-boxes — seem  almost  pro- 
fessional in  their  precision.  Very  often  the  boys 
undertake  to  make  toys  for  the  use  of  the  younger 
children,  or  to  mend  those  which  have  become 
the  worse  for  wear: — 


THE  PLAY  CENTRE  EXHIBITION,  19 13        39 

"  The  Woodwork  boys  have  made  a  strong 
cart  for  the  small  children,"  writes  one  of  the 
superintendents.  "It  is  such  a  delight  to  them, 
and  is  pulled  all  over  the  playground."     Or — 

"  The  children  this  week  had  in  use  the  wheel- 
barrow made  by  the  Woodwork  boys,  and  have 
had  great  fun  riding  in  it."     Or  again — 

"  The  Woodwork  boys  have  made  many  clever 
models  this  term.  They  have  also  kept  the  Play 
Centre  toys  in  repair,  have  mended  our  drilling 
rifles,  and  made  us  some  bar-bells." 

In  1913  we  organised  (at  the  Passmore  Edwards 
Settlement)  an  Exhibition  of  all  these  things  that 
the  children  had  made,  together  with  a  display 
of  their  dancing  and  physical  exercises,  and  I  think 
that  anyone  who  looked  round  the  crowded  stalls 
could  not  fail  to  be  struck  by  the  originality  and 
spirit  shown  by  their  drawings  and  models,  and 
by  the  evident  delight  that  had  gone  to  the  making 
of  them.  "  This  little  Exhibition,"  said  Mrs.  Ward 
in  her  opening  address,  "  is  the  fruit  of  the  free 
use  of  natural  talent.  It  looks  like  a  bazaar.  In 
reality  every  object  here  is  the  result  of  some 
individual  child's  loving  effort,  and  scarcely  any- 
thing is  to  be  sold.  Many  things  here — baskets, 
drawings,  inlaid  woodwork,  fret-work — the  chil- 
dren who  made  them  would  never  have  been 
induced  to  part  with  them  unless  they  were  sure 
of  getting  them  back.  They  have  been  laboriously 
paid  for — the  raw  materials  only — by  farthings  at 
a    time,    and    the    children    have    themselves  seen 


4o     EVENING  l'LA\   CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

to  it  that  the  mark  'sold'  was  firmly  placed  upon 
them  before  they  were  sent  here.  There  is  an 
inlaid  tray  among  the  woodwork.  It  took  a  boy 
six  months  to  make,  he  has  paid  for  the  wood,  and 
it  was  with  considerable  unwillingness  that  he 
even  sent  it  here  to  show.  Let  me  draw  your 
attention  to  the  beautiful  little  model  of  a  railway 
station  made  by  a  Poplar  boy,  to  the  elaborate 
shop  contrived  by  a  number  of  boys  together,  to 
the  beautiful  bagatelle-boards,  the  largest  of  which 
— the  work  of  twenty  boys — has  been  in  use  since 
Christmas  by  the  Centre  for  which  it  was  made — 
to  the  toys  made  out  of  the  simplest  materials, 
match-boxes,  knitting-pins,  reels — to  the  large  show 
of  rugs,  to  the  ingenious  models  in  plasticine, 
coloured  and  uncoloured.  Then  there  are  the 
neatly  framed  drawings  which  are  going  to  make 
the  brightness  of  many  a  tenement  room.  We 
don't  at  all  vouch  for  the  taste  of  everything, 
though  we  try  to  guide  it.  The  children  do  what 
they  want  to  do,  and  they  would  not  come  if  they 
didn't" 

This  Exhibition  was  made  the  occasion  not  only 
for  an  appeal  for  funds,  but  also  tor  an  important 
statement  of  policy  by  the  speakers  at  the  opening 
meeting.  In  the  preceding  six  years  the  cost  o( 
the  centres  had  risen  as  follows,  in  consequence 
of  the  rise  in  numbers: — 

1907  .  .    ^2339.        1910        .  .  ^3718. 

1908  .  .    ^3042.         191 1        .  .  ^4501. 

1909  .  .     ^3°95-        ""-        •  •  £S4°3- 
We  alone  knew  at  what  a    heavy  cost  in  brain- 


IN     rOSlrilJN     KdK     i.Kl'lM)     HANDBALL 


COBBLING    CLASS 


THE  PLAY  CENTRE  EXHIBITION,  191 3        41 

fatigue  and  strain  Mrs.  Ward  had  been  able  to 
raise  such  increasingly  large  sums,  but  it  was  not 
these  considerations  that  weighed  with  her  in 
making  her  appeal  to  the  authorities,  both  national 
and  municipal,  to  recognise  and  gradually  to  take 
over  the  work.  It  was  her  firm  belief  that  the 
very  success  of  the  Play  Centre  experiment  had 
demonstrated  the  need  for  a  more  universal  system, 
and  with  that  end  in  view  she  had  invited  Mr. 
(now  Sir)  Cyril  Cobb,  Chairman  of  the  London 
County  Council,  to  preside  at  this  meeting,  and 
Lord  Haldane  (then  Lord  Chancellor)  to  make 
the  principal  speech.  She  herself  made  no  secret 
of  her  aims  in  her  opening  remarks.  "  What  we 
ask  of  the  Lord  Chancellor,"  she  said,  "  is  some 
systematic  and  adequate  provision  through  Parlia- 
ment and  through  the  Local  Authorities  for  these 
after-school  hours,  during  which  at  present  the 
great  educational  plant  of  the  nation,  its  school 
buildings  and  playgrounds,  are  lying  empty  and 
unused.  Such  an  effort  as  ours  cannot  be  kept 
up  ultimately  without  the  aid  of  the  Local  Authority 
and  the  Nation."  And  in  the  speech  of  Lord 
Haldane — in  whom  this  country  will  recognise 
some  day,  if  victory  has  not  made  us  blind,  one 
of  our  best  and  most  large-hearted  public  servants 
— the  same  thought  emerges,  though  uttered  with 
the  caution  that  inevitably  circumscribes  the  public 
man.  His  words  have  much  force  and  meaning 
for  us  to  this  day  : — - 

"  In  this  great  London  of  ours,"  he  said,  "  we  have 
got   a   large    number    of    children    who    are    very 


42     EVENING  i'l.W   CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

important  people.  They  are  important  because  in  ten, 
fifteen,  or  twenty  years'  time  they  will  be  the  citi- 
zens of  the  day.  What  are  we  going-  to  do  to  make 
them  good  citizens  ?  We  send  them  to  school,  but 
there  is  all  that  long  time  between  the  hours  called 
school  hours  and  the  time  of  going  to  bed,  and  those 
few  hours  may  more  than  counteract  the  good  effect 
of  the  school-time.  I  remember  when  I  was  hunt- 
ing up  Territorials,  and  organising  with  a  view  of 
getting  them,  going  down  and  exploring  that  re- 
markable field  which  there  is  across  the  river.  I 
found  lots  of  life  going  on  there,  but  what  struck 
me  was  this  :  everybody  seemed  to  be  living  just 
on  the  margin  of  subsistence — in  great  poverty  ; 
there  was  no  provision  for  the  children  ;  they  were 
out  in  the  streets  with  nobody  to  look  after  them  ; 
they  were  learning  everything  they  ought  not  to 
learn,  and  nothing  that  they  ought  to  learn.  I 
was  struck  with  the  terrible  and  crushing  effect  of 
poverty  on  these  children.  Just  think  how  the 
children  of  the  rich  are  looked  after  ;  every  hour  of 
their  leisure  time  is  more  or  less  supervised,  and 
they  are  just  as  susceptible  and  amenable  to  mould- 
ing influences,  then,  as  they  are  while  under  actual 
instruction.  If  they  are  what  they  are,  it  is  largely 
because  they  are  cared  for  in  the  hours  out  of  school 
as  in  the  hours  spent  in  school.  The  idea  of  the 
Play  Centre,  therefore,  is  something  much  more 
than  play.  It  is  to  give  a  chance  of  getting  at  and 
moulding  these  boys  and  girls,  who  are  spending 
their  time  under  the  worst  influences  in  the  streets, 
and   suggest  to  them  the  doing  of  better   things. 


THE  PLAY  CENTRE  EXHIBITION,   1913        43 

People,  whether  they  are  young  or  old,  are  very 
largely  moved  by  suggestion,  if  the  suggestion  is 
made  in  the  right  way.  If  you  get  these  boys  and 
girls  to  come  into  the  playground  and  playroom, 
if  you  suggest  to  them  that  they  can  make  them- 
selves better  and  bigger,  and  that  they  can  produce 
and  create,  they  will  soon  wish  to  try,  and  then 
there  is  nothing  they  like  so  much  as  to  see  the 
effect  of  their  efforts.  If  that  were  going  on  all 
over  this  great  City,  all  over  the  great  cities  of  the 
country,  and  adapted,  as  it  would  have  to  be 
adapted,  to  the  rural  districts,  do  you  think  that  the 
generation  that  is  going  to  carry  on  the  destinies  of 
the  country  within  the  next  twenty  years  would  not 
be  much  better  than  it  would  be  without  such  in- 
fluences as  these?  Your  education  will  never  be 
complete  until  you  train  the  hand,  the  eye,  and  the 
ear,  as  well  as  the  brain,  until  you  have  directed 
the  moral  faculties  as  well  as  the  mental,  and  until 
you  have  looked  after  the  physical.  You  may  say, 
'  It  is  an  appalling  problem  '.  It  is  a  very  great 
problem,  but  I  think  that  200  years  after  this, 
people  will  look  back  on  this  twentieth  century, 
with  all  its  discoveries  and  wealth,  as  a  barbarous 
period,  because  we  never  thought  of  the  obvious  ; 
and  the  most  obvious  is  that  we  should  take  care  of 
the  future  generation.  In  those  days  the  public 
will  take  care  of  the  future  generation  as  the  most 
important  duty  of  the  State,  whereas  we  have  not 
half-wakened  up  to  it  to-day.  Education  does  not 
begin  at  five  ;  it  begins  as  soon  as  the  child  begins 
to  be  conscious  of  its  own  personality,   and  that  is 


44     EVENING  I'l.AY  CENTRES  EOR  CHILDREN 

very  young  indeed.  For  this  Play  Centre  work  ycu 
have  got  wonderful  material  to  hand  in  the  play- 
rooms and  playgrounds  of  the  Council  schools. 
That  is  why  the  Council  has  taken  Mrs.  Ward  into 
co-operation  with  them  in  this  new  phase  of  national 
work.  Now,  do  not  let  us  think  that  this  is  a  thing 
which  the  State  is  going  to  take  up  thoroughly  for 
a  good  long  while.  The  State  is  always  very  slow 
to  move,  and  probably  it  is  fortunate  that  it  is  so, 
or  otherwise  we  should  be  crushed  under  the  burden 
of  its  blunders.  This  movement  has  been  following 
the  natural  course.  I  think  that  it  has  reached  the 
stage  in  which  it  must  be  recognised  as  one,  at  least, 
of  the  elements  in  a  national  system  of  education, 
as  one  of  the  things  that  must  come  within  the  scope 
and  observance  of  the  Board  of  Education.  The 
Play  Centre  movement  must  begin  by  voluntary 
effort.  It  has  already  reached  a  stage  in  which  I 
hope  it  is  going  to  attract  a  great  deal  of  official 
attention." 

But  in  spite  of  these  wise  words,  the  authorities 
more  directly  concerned  were  still  reluctant  to 
shoulder  the  new  burden,  and  for  another  four  years 
our  committee  was  obliged  to  bear  it  unaided. 
Little  more  than  a  year  after  these  words  were 
uttered,  the  whole  fabric  of  our  society  reeled  from 
the  shock  of  the  outbreak  of  war,  and  it  seemed  as 
though  the  Play  Centre  movement  must  inevitably 
share  in  the  general  wreck.  Events,  however, 
were  to  prove  the  contrary,  and  it  was  the  experi- 
ence of  the  war  itself  that  was  to  give  our  appeal 
a  new  and  irresistible  force. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Financial  Anxiety — Economies — The  Centres  in  War-time — 
Air-raids — The  Centres  carry  on — The  Conversion  of  the 
Board  of  Education — The  Board's  Memorandum 

THOSE  who  will  cast  their  memory  back  to  the 
autumn  months  of  19 14,  when  the  Belgian 
refugees  were  pouring  in,  and  the  Prince  of  Wales's 
Fund,  the  Red  Cross  Society,  and  the  various  regi- 
mental and  ambulance  funds  were  all  competing  for 
our  generosity,  will  readily  understand  the  anxiety 
that  beset  the  members  of  the  Play  Centre  Com- 
mittee lest  their  work  for  the  children  should  have 
to  be  curtailed.  We  were  at  that  time  responsible  for 
twenty  Centres,  and  the  attendances  for  the  autumn 
term  alone  amounted  to  811,000,  while  for  the 
whole  year  they  were  to  touch  1,752,000.  Were 
we  to  be  obliged  to  close  down  a  certain  number 
of  Centres,  and  to  turn  into  the  streets  so  many 
hundreds  of  children  who  had  come  to  look  upon 
the  Play  Centre  as  their  natural  heritage  ?  It  was 
not  to  be  thought  of  without  the  deepest  repugnance, 
but  the  omens  were  by  no  means  encouraging  ;  the 
response  to  Mrs.  Ward's  appeal  in  "  The  Times  "  in 
December  only  amounted  to  £330,  and  we  looked 
forward  to  the  future  with  much  doubt  and  appre- 
hension. 

45 


46     EVENING   PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

Yet  all  the  time  the  actual  need  of  the  children 
for  care  and  supervision  after  school  hours  was 
only  increased  by  the  war  conditions.  Even  the 
first  call-up  of  the  Reservists  meant  that  thousands 
of  London  homes  were  left  fatherless,  and  that  the 
wilder  spirits  among  the  boys  had  so  much  the 
more  liberty  to  get  themselves  and  others  into 
trouble.  And  as  the  call  for  volunteers  went  on, 
and  more  and  more  of  the  fathers  and  elder  brothers 
joined  the  colours,  this  lack  of  control  led  to  an 
ever-increasing  lawlessness  in  the  back  streets. 
From  Fulham  the  superintendent  wrote :  "  My 
every-night  children  include  a  number  of  boys 
whose  fathers  are  at  the  front,  and  whose  mothers 
tell  me,  '  I  can  do  nothing  with  him  since  his  father 
went,  Miss.  I  am  only  too  glad  you  can  ! '  Indeed 
I  hardly  know  which  I  am  most  sorry  for,  the 
mother  or  the  boy,  for  often  it  merely  means  that 
the  spirit  which  is  so  fine  in  our  men  in  the  trenches 
is  in  their  young  sons,  but  can  find  no  outlet  in  a 
three-roomed  flat.  One  knows  that  what  the  boy 
needs  is  occupation,  not  constant  remonstrance  and 
restraint."  Presently,  however,  under  the  influence 
of  darkened  streets  and  the  lurid  excitement  of  the 
cinema  films,  these  ardent  spirits  would  band 
together  in  gangs,  calling  themselves  the  "  Black 
Hand"  or  "Clutching  Hand  Gang,"  would  raid 
the  shops  and  generally  spread  terror  over  a  whole 
neighbourhood.  If  there  was  a  Play  Centre  in 
that  neighbourhood  there  was  every  hope  that 
these  companies  would  be  broken  up  and   induced 


ECONOMIES  47 

to  spend  their  energies  on  military  drill,  gymnastics, 
or  woodwork,  and  the  testimony  of  some  of  our 
superintendents  is  remarkable  on  this  point  :  "  My 
list  of  every-night  boys  is  growing  steadily,"  writes 
the  superintendent  of  an  East  End  Centre  in  the 
second  winter  of  the  war  ;  "  I  have  been  able  to 
break  up  a  group  of  boys  calling  themselves  the 
'  Clutching  Hand  Gang '.  They  are  as  amenable 
as  possible  now."  And  again,  "  By  getting  a  hold 
on  a  lively  leader  I  have  been  able  to  scatter 
several  bands  of  rough  boys.  One  such  leader  was 
so  fascinated  by  the  painting  class  that  I  won  him 
to  the  Centre,  and  ended  his  mad  exploits. "  But  with 
only  twenty  Play  Centres  to  the  800,000  children  of 
London  we  could  not  hope  to  exercise  more  than 
a  local  effect  in  this  direction,  and  our  constant  fear, 
during  191 5  and  1916,  was  that  our  efforts  might 
have  to  be  curtailed  instead  of  extended.  Our 
subscriptions  and  donations  for  191 5  amounted  to 
only  ^"4430,  as  against  ^6365  for  1914,  but  by 
dint  of  drastic  economies  both  in  materials  and 
in  the  trained  teaching  we  employed  it  was  found 
possible  not  only  to  maintain  the  twenty  existing 
Centres  but  even  to  add  another  in  the  slum 
district  of  North  Kensington.  Never  was  a  com- 
mittee better  served  than  ours  by  its  professional 
workers,  from  its  three  Secretaries  and  its  twenty 
Superintendents,  to  the  youngest  Games  Master  who 
took  the  boys  for  cricket  or  football  in  the  play- 
grounds. The  economies  devised  by  the  secretaries 
were  largely  responsible  for  enabling  us  to  carry  on 


4S     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

through  the  hard  times,  and  the  devotion  of  the 
teachers  sometimes  showed  itself  in  touching  offers 
to  come  without  payment  on  Saturday  mornings,  In 
order  that  the  boys  might  not  lose  their  cricket  or 
the  girls  their  chance  of  a  quiet  hour  in  the  play- 
ground with  their  babies.  Gradually  we  were 
forced  to  drop  some  of  the  more  expensive  hand- 
work classes  (such  as  woodwork)  and  to  do  with- 
out the  services  of  the  drill  and  gymnastic  masters, 
who  were  all  sooner  or  later  called  up  ;  but  basket- 
work  and  cobbling  were  still  carried  on,  though  on 
a  reduced  scale,  and  the  Quiet  Games  Rooms  were 
increased  in  number  and  never  lost  their  attraction. 
Thus  we  struo-oled  on  through  the  difficult  vears 
191 5  and  1916,  until  at  length  the  doctrine  that  in 
the  children  lay  the  best  hope  of  England  seemed  to 
have  penetrated  deeply  into  the  public  mind,  and  the 
response  to  Mrs.  Ward's  appeal  in  "The  Times" 
of  December  18,  19 16,  saved  the  situation  for  the 
Play  Centres.  Over  /,  1000  came  in,  and  I 
remember  well  how  my  children  and  I  were  all 
drawn  into  the  joyous  business  of  acknowledging 
the  donations,  and  how  my  small  boy  of  six  shared 
in  the  general  excitement  at  the  opening  of  the 
letters  and  rejoiced  louder  than  anyone  when  a 
^50  cheque  tumbled  out  of  the  envelope. 

No  record  of  work  in  London  during  the  four 
winters  of  the  war  can  fail  to  call  up  the  sinister 
memory  of  the  air-raids,  and  all  that  they  meant  to 
the  swarming  population  of  the  East  and  South. 
The  Play  Centres  felt  the  full  blast  of  the  disturb- 


AIR-RAIDS  49 

ance  that  they  caused  in  London's  life,  although  no 
raid  ever  took  place  actually  within  the  Play  Centre 
hours,  except  the  daylight  raid  of  Saturday,  July  7, 
191 7.  But  whenever  a  raid  had  taken  place  in  a 
particular  neighbourhood,  the  resulting  panic  would 
mean  that  for  days  afterwards  the  mothers  would 
drag  their  children  down  to  the  nearest  underground 
shelter  as  soon  as  dusk  began,  and  spend  the  weary 
hours  of  the  night  there  in  hard  discomfort.  The 
Blackwall  and  Rotherhithe  Tunnels  must  have 
swarmed  with  our  children  on  these  nights,  and  too 
often  when  the  poor  huddled  families  emerged  at 
dawn  there  would  be  some  among  them  who  found 
their  little  homes  laid  waste  and  their  possessions 
scattered  to  the  winds.  When  the  system  of 
warnings  and  "All  clear"  signals  was  adopted  the 
conditions  improved,  for  then  the  time  of  taking 
refuge  was  at  least  definitely  limited,  and  the 
responsibilities  of  our  superintendents  to  some 
extent  lightened.  Previously  we  had  had  to  leave 
it  to  their  discretion  whether  to  close  the  Centres 
or  not  on  any  evening  that  seemed  "  likely  "  for  a 
raid,  and  many  an  anxious  time  they  had  in  deciding 
between  the  claims  of  common  sense  and  of  the 
nervous,  excitable  parents.  The  following  instruc- 
tions were  issued  to  them  during  the  time  before 
the  "  warning"  system  had  been  adopted  : — 


5o     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 


Important 

From  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward 

Play  Centres  Office, 

Tavistock  Place,  W.C.   i, 
June  8///,  191 7. 

Mrs.  Ward  has  consulted  with  Scotland  Yard  as 
to  the  steps  to  be  taken  by  the  Play  Centre  super- 
intendents in  the  event  of  an  air-raid  during  Play 
Centre  hours,  when  the  children  are  in  the  play- 
grounds. 

It  is  possible  that  the  first  warning  of  a  raid  may 
be  the  sound  of  firing  or  of  explosion.  At  such 
warn i no-  ine  children  should  be  at  once  marched 
into  the  school  building  and  kept  in  the  ground- 
floor  hall,  well  away  from  the  iviudows  until  it  is 
known  that  the  danger  is  past.  A  raid  will 
obviously  be  of  only  short  duration,  and  the  super- 
intendents and  staff  will,  of  course,  do  their  utmost 
to  keep  the  children  calm  and  under  good  control. 

The  same  instructions  hold  good  in  case  of 
general  warning  of  a  raid  being  given  by  police  or 
otherwise. 


AIR-RAIDS  Si 

II 

Important 

From  Mrs.  Ward 

Play  Centres  Office, 

Tavistock  Place,  W.C.  i, 
June  i$t/i,  19 1 7. 

To  the  Play  Centre  Superintendents  : — 
Re  Possible  Air-raids  during  Play  Centre  hours 

{Notice  2). 
It  is  most  desirable 

(a)  that  the  superintendents  should  practise 
some  form  of  Air-raid  Drill  with  the  children  in 
the  playgrounds. 

At  a  chosen  signal,  the  children  should  under- 
stand that  they  must  line  up  instantly  in  a  certain 
part  of  the  playground.  This  should  be  practised 
each  evening  until  the  superintendent  is  satisfied 
that  the  signal  is  clearly  understood  and  promptly 
and  exactly  obeyed  by  the  children. 

(6)  that  the  children  should  be  told  to  tell  their 
parents  that  in  the  event  of  a  raid  while  they  are  at 
the  Play  Centre,  they  will  be  taken  at  once  into 
the  school,  and  kept  there  until  the  danger  is  past. 

The  superintendents  should  frequently  repeat 
this  instruction,  and  should  do  their  best  in  other 
ways  to  let  the  parents  know  this. 


52     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

III 

From  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward 

Evening  Play  Centres 

Instructions  for  Superintendents  in  case  oj  Lights 
in  the  Schools  having  to  be  suddenly  twned  out 
during  Play  Centre  occupation. 

(i)  The  superintendent  must  see  that  every 
room  occupied  is  provided  each  evening  with  a 
candle,  candle-stick  and  matches.  These  to  be 
bought  from  petty  cash. 

(2)  Where  the  top  hall  is  occupied,  the  teacher 
in  charge  must  be  responsible  for  at  once  marching 
the  children  to  the  second  floor  hall. 

(3)  All  the  children  must  be  kept  in  the  build- 
ing in  their  respective  rooms  and  halls  until  police 
instructions  are  given. 

(4)  The  superintendent  is  responsible  for  letting 
each  member  of  her  staff  know  of  these  arrange- 
ments. 

But,  as  good  luck  would  have  it,  none  except 
the  above-mentioned  daylight  raid  ever  occurred 
during  our  hours,  although  the  superintendents  and 
staff  were  frequently  caught  on  their  return  from 
the  Centres,  and  had  to  spend  many  weary  hours 
in  Tube  stations  and  other  improvised  shelters. 

One  disagreeable  result  of  the  raids  was  that  we 
were  obliged    to  spend    a    large  sum  out    of   our 


THE  CENTRES  CARRY  ON  53 

depleted  funds  in  the  fitting  up  of  dark  blinds  in 
all  the  school  halls  and  classrooms  that  we  used, 
for  of  course  no  glimmer  of  light  was  allowed  to 
show  from  our  windows.  But  we  felt  that  any 
sacrifice  must  be  faced  in  order  to  save  the  children 
from  the  miseries  of  those  cruelly-darkened  streets, 
for  the  darkening  had,  of  course,  immensely  added 
to  the  perils  and  hardships  that  the  children  of 
London  had  to  suffer  in  the  winter  evenings. 
Here  is  an  account  by  a  visitor  to  an  East  End 
Centre  in  the  winter  of  191 5-1 6,  which  well  ex- 
presses the  relief  from  war-conditions  of  all  sorts 
that  was  afforded  by  the  cheerful,  well-lighted 
rooms  : — 

"  Turn  from  the  darkened  streets  and  see  the 
children  lining  up  for  admission  to  a  Play  Centre 
on  a  cold  and  rainy  night.  As  you  grope  your 
way  down  the  dark  street,  children  run  in  front  of 
and  behind  you,  from  side  streets  to  the  right  and 
to  the  left  of  you — boys  and  girls,  big  and  little — 
all  making  for  the  friendly  school  building,  which 
they  know  will  be  bright  and  warm  inside,  though 
it  shows  no  light  outside  in  these  days  of  Zeppelins. 
They  chatter  happily  as  they  run,  and  as  they  pass 
you  they  greet  you  with  a  friendly  '  Mi-ss !  '■ — 
taking  it  for  granted  that  you  are  coming  to  visit 
them  at  'Play  Centre'.  In  another  few  minutes 
the  halls  are  full  of  dancing  and  singing  children, 
or  of  boys  delighting  in  gymnastic  or  team  games, 
and  in  the  classrooms  there  is  a  happy  hum  as  the 
children    paint   and  draw,   knit,   sew,  cobble  their 


54     EVENING   PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

boots,  thread  beads,  make  ingenious  toys  from 
match-boxes,  reels  of  cotton,  incandescent  mantle 
cases  ;  weave  baskets,  model  guns,  aeroplanes,  and 
Red  Cross  ambulances  ;  build  bridges  and  forts,  or 
in  the  Toy  Rooms  find  engines  and  horses  to  drag 
about,  dolls  to  nurse  and  put  to  bed,  tea  services 
for  tea  parties  to  which  'Teacher'  will  come, 
puzzles  to  put  together,  and  picture-books  to  pore 
over." 

The  average  attendance  at  our  larger  Centres 
was  from  600  to  700  children  at  each  session,  and 
at  Stepney  the  number  once  touched  1 1 14,  and  was 
frequently  over  900.  The  thought  of  what  would 
become  of  these  many  hundreds  of  children  in  the 
dark  streets  if  we  were  obliged  to  close  any  one  of 
the  Centres — how  they  would  drift  about  aimlessly 
until  they  could  be  admitted  to  their  homes,  or  find 
their  way  to  the  nearest  cinema  with  the  pennies 
that  a  distracted  mother  had  given  them  to  get 
them  out  of  her  way — all  this  acted  as  a  constant 
spur  to  our  committee  to  strain  every  nerve  to 
keep  the  Centres  open,  in  spite  of  the  difficulties  of 
rising  prices,  of  dark  blinds,  and  everything  else. 

And,  though  we  did  not  yet  know  it,  the  State 
recognition  and  support  for  which  Mrs.  Ward  had 
striven  through  so  many  long  years  was  already 
very  near  us  in  the  autumn  of  19 16.  The  first  step 
was  actually  taken  by  the  Home  Office,  from  which 
a  letter  was  addressed  to  the  Board  of  Education 
in  December,  19 16,  drawing  the  Board's  attention 
to  the  serious  increase  in  juvenile  crime  which  had 


RIFLE    DRILL 


RIFLE    DRILL 


THE  BOARD'S  MEMORANDUM  55 

occurred  since  the  outbreak  of  war.  The  Board, 
then  under  the  Presidency  of  Mr.  J.  W.  Pease  (now 
Lord  Gainford),  was  already  convinced  of  the 
necessity  of  taking  vigorous  steps  to  combat  the 
growing  evil,  and  after  much  friendly  consultation 
with  Mrs.  Ward,  Sir  Amherst  Selby-Bigge,  the 
Permanent  Secretary,  was  able  to  draw  up  and  cir- 
culate an  authoritative  Memorandum  in  which  the 
assistance  of   the    Government    was    oromised   for 

1 

Play  Centres  throughout  the  country. 

The  signing  of  the  Memorandum  was  one  of  the 
first  official  acts  of  Mr.  H.  A.  L.  Fisher, -then  newly 
appointed  Minister  for  Education,  and  soon  after- 
wards he  wrote  these  words  to  Mrs.  Ward  : 
"  Nothing  has  given  me  greater  pleasure,  since  I 
took  up  this  work,  than  the  opportunity  which  it 
has  brought  me  of  giving  some  help  to  your  Play 
Centres  ". 

The  Memorandum  itself,  considering  its  impor- 
tance in  the  Play  Centre  movement,  must  be 
quoted  here  in  full : — 

Memorandum  Accompanying  the  Regulations 
for  Evening  Play  Centres  for  Public 
Elementary  School  Children 

1.  Under  the  accompanying  Regulations  the 
Board  will  be  prepared  to  pay  grants  in  respect  of 
the  maintenance  of  Evening  Play  Centres  between 
August  1,  1 9 16,  and  July  31,  191 7,  for  children 
attending  Public  Elementary  Schools.     The  sum 


56     EVENING   PLAY  CENTRES  EOR  CHILDREN 

which  will  be  available  for  these  grants  is  limited, 
but  the  Board  believe  that  it  will  be  sufficient  to 
enable  them  to  pay  at  the  rate  of  50  per  cent  of 
the  approved  expenditure  in  cases  where  they  are 
satisfied  as  to  the  adequacy  as  well  as  the  quality  of 
the  work  done.  It  is  obvious  that  the  public  value 
of  the  work  done  in  a  given  Centre  is  usually 
greater  when  the  Centre  is  open  regularly  and  con- 
tinuously for  a  considerable  period  than  when  it  is 
open  only  on  a  few  days  in  the  week  and  for  a  short 
period,  and  it  is  equitable  that  in  determining  the 
rate  of  grant  the  Board  should  have  regard  to  this 
consideration.  When,  therefore,  a  Centre  is  closed 
before  the  summer  holidays  or  meets  on  less  than 
five  evenings  a  week  the  rate  of  grant  may  to  some 
extent  be  affected. 

2.  The  Board  have  recently  (Circular  No.  975) 
circulated  a  Letter  addressed  to  them  by  the  Home 
Office  urging  that  all  possible  steps  should  be  taken 
to  deal  with  the  problem  presented  by  the  serious 
increase  of  juvenile  offences  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war.  Many  of  these  offences  are  committed 
by  children  still  at  school  ;  there  is  much  evidence 
that,  owing  to  the  absence  on  military  service  of 
their  fathers,  and  perhaps  even  more  of  their  elder 
brothers,  the  industrial  employment  of  their 
mothers,  the  darkening  of  the  streets,  and  other 
circumstances  arising  out  of  the  war,  many  school 
children,  and  especially  boys,  are  suffering  from 
want  of  proper  care  and  discipline,  and  are  exposed 
to  serious  risk  of  deterioration.     It  appears,  there- 


THE  BOARD'S  MEMORANDUM  57 

fore,  to  the  Board  that  a  special  occasion  has  arisen 
for  adopting  such  measures  as  are  open  to  the 
Board  and  Local  Education  Authorities  for  provid- 
ing by  means  of  Play  Centres  care  and  recreation 
out  of  school  hours  for  children  for  whose  education 
they  are  directly  responsible,  and  especially  for 
those  whose  home  conditions  are  unfavourable  to 
healthy  and  happy  development.  It  will  of  course 
be  realised  that  every  effort  should  be  made  to  co- 
ordinate the  work  of  the  Play  Centres  with  the 
activities  of  the  many  admirable  organisations 
which  already  exist  for  promoting  the  welfare  of 
older  children  and  of  boys  and  girls  who  have  left 
school. 

3.  Under  Section  13  (1)  of  the  Education 
(Administrative  Provisions)  Act,  1907,  Local  Edu- 
cation Authorities  have  power  to  provide  and  to 
assist  voluntary  associations  to  provide  Play  Centres 
for  children  attending  school.  The  Board  trust 
that  Authorities  will  lose  no  time  in  getting  into 
touch  with  any  voluntary  organisations  concerned 
with  the  welfare  of  school  children  in  their  area, 
with  a  view  to  considering  what  additional  pro- 
vision is  desirable  and  practicable.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  a  number  of  Authorities  will  them- 
selves establish  and  conduct  Play  Centres,  but 
others  may  prefer  in  the  first  instance  to  recognise 
for  the  purposes  of  the  Act  of  1907  the  work  carried 
on  by  voluntary  associations,  many  of  which,  no 
doubt,  would  be  able  and  willing  to  extend  the 
scope  of  their  work  if  suitable  premises  and  financial 


58     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

assistance  were  available  for  the  purpose.  In  such 
cases  the  Board  will  be  prepared  to  pay  grants 
under  these  Regulations  to  the  association,  but  they 
would  expect  the  Authority  also  to  assist  to  the  ex- 
tent at  least  of  placing  Elementary  School  premises 
at  their  disposal  free  of  any  charge  for  rent  and  for 
heating,  lighting,  and  cleaning.  It  will  be  observed 
that  the  Board  have  taken  power  to  disregard  any 
items  of  expenditure  which  in  their  opinion  should 
not  be  taken  into  account,  and  it  will  only  be  in  ex- 
ceptional circumstances  that  they  will  be  prepared 
to  take  into  account  expenditure  incurred  in  respect 
of  the  hire  or  use  of  premises. 

4.  Although  the  immediate  occasion  of  the 
Board's  action  in  this  matter  is  the  need  for  pre- 
venting and  remedying  deterioration  arising  out  of 
the  war,  it  is  important  to  remember  that  a  Play 
Centre  should  have  a  positive  aim,  and  that  if  well 
and  intelligently  managed  it  may  be  a  valuable 
agency  for  training  the  children.  For  this  purpose 
its  value  is  to  be  measured  not  only  by  its  success 
in  keeping  the  children  out  of  harm's  way  and  mis- 
chief, but  also  by  the  influence  it  exercises  in  the 
formation  of  character.  This  influence  must,  how- 
ever, always  be  exercised  through  genuine  play, 
and  it  is  greatly  to  be  desired  that  a  spirit  of  free 
play,  and  of  self-chosen  occupation,  should  prevail 
in  a  Play  Centre.  All  possible  encouragement 
should  be  given  to  a  child's  own  ideas  and  inven- 
tions in  play,  so  far,  of  course,  as  space  and  num- 
bers allow.      The  possibilities  of  play,  indoor  as  well 


THE  BOARD'S  MEMORANDUM  59 

as  outdoor,  are  capable  of  wide  development.1 
Where  large  numbers  of  children  are  present,  dis- 
cipline, of  course,  can  never  be  neglected.  The 
children  must  be  taught  scrupulously  to  obey  orders, 
and  to  respect  the  rooms  they  use  and  everything 
in  them.  At  the  opening  of  a  Centre  the  pleasure 
of  the  children  in  a  new  and  exciting  experience 
will  often,  especially  in  a  poor  and  crowded  district, 
make  discipline  difficult.  Patience  and  intelligence 
are  both  needed,  and  when  once  order  has  been 
secured,  the  superintendent  should  aim  at  making 
the  atmosphere  and  spirit  of  the  Centre,  the  atmos- 
phere and  spirit — as  far  as  can  be — of  a  happy  and 
well-ordered  home.  Intelligent  interest  in  the  in- 
dividual children,  the  encouragement  of  a  corporate 
spirit,  especially  in  the  elder  children,  so  that  they 
feel  themselves  responsible  for  the  welfare  of  the 
Centre,  and  are  on  the  watch  to  help  new-comers, 
and  to  hand  on  the  spirit  of  the  place  to  them — 
these  are  what  a  good  superintendent  will  strive 
after.  The  elder  children  must  be  led  to  look  after 
the  little  ones.  The  handwork  should  be  done  for 
pleasure,  and  not  in  a  spirit  of  competition.  Those 
who  have  no  talent  for  drawing  will  still  amuse 
themselves  with  paint  and  pencil,  while  those  who 
have  talent  should  find  it  encouraged  and  helped. 
In  short,  while  the  spirit  of  the  School  is  one  of 

1  Reference  in  this  connection  may  be  made  to  the  Board's  Edu- 
cational Pamphlet  No.  27,  "  The  Playground  Movement  in  America 
and  its  Relation  to  Public  Education,"  published  in  191 3,  price  4d, 
(obtainable  through  any  bookseller). 


6o     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

work,  which  may,  of  course,  give  pleasure,  but 
necessarily  implies  effort  and  close  attention,  the 
spirit  of  the  Play  Centre  should  be  one  of  relaxation 
and  enjoyment.  Real  rest  is  often  desirable  for 
many  children.  A  superintendent  should  always 
be  on  the  look-out  for  tired  children  whose  only 
wish  is  to  sit  still,  to  look  at  a  picture  book,  or  play 
quietly  with  a  toy.  School  methods  and  phrases 
should  be  avoided  in  a  Play  Centre  as  much  as 
possible.  Children  will  go  back  to  them  in  school 
with  all  the  fresher  intelligence. 

5.  Continuity  of  Play  Centre  work  is  most  desir- 
able, and  a  Centre  which  keeps  in  touch  with  the 
children  through  the  greater  part  of  the  year  will 
show  better  results  than  a  Centre  which  is  open  for 
a  few  months  only.  But  whatever  the  period  for 
which  the  Centre  may  be  open,  it  is  important  that 
during  that  period,  exclusive  of  the  ordinary  school 
holidays,  it  should  meet  each  night  from  Monday 
to  Friday.  Even  though  few  individual  children 
may  be  able  to  attend  on  more  than  three  evenings 
a  week,  the  Centre  should  always  be  there  for  the 
child  who  is  in  need  of  it.  Normally  a  Centre 
should  meet  for  not  less  than  one  and  a  half  hours, 
but  where  circumstances  render  such  a  course  desir- 
able the  Board  will  raise  no  objection  to  the  meet- 
ing beino-  divided  into  two  sessions  of  not  less  than 
one  hour  each,  attended  by  different  sets  of  chil- 
dren. In  such  cases,  however,  any  children  whose 
home  circumstances  prevent  their  returning  home 
at  the  end  of  the  first  session  should  be  allowed  to 


THE  BOARD'S  MEMORANDUM  61 

remain  at  the  Centre  for  the  second  session.  It 
may  also  be  found  desirable  to  have  boys  on  one 
night  and  girls  on  another,  but  where  a  Centre  is 
so  organised  a  room  should  be  set  apart  for  those 
girls  or  boys,  as  the  case  may  be,  who  otherwise 
would  be  obliged  to  spend  their  time  in  the  streets. 
The  hours  of  opening  and  closing  will  depend  upon 
the  social  conditions  and  customs  of  the  neighbour- 
hood, but  generally  the  most  suitable  time  will  be 
during  the  hours  between  5  and  7.30  or  8  o'clock. 

6.  The  success  of  a  Centre  largely  depends 
upon  the  superintendent.  Experience  in  the 
management  of  children  and  a  good  knowledge  of 
the  conditions  of  life  in  the  homes  of  the  type  of 
child  who  may  be  expected  to  attend  are  important 
qualifications  for  the  post.  A  sense  of  humour  will 
be  specially  useful  in  dealing  with  the  kind  of  diffi- 
culties which  are  likely  to  arise.  A  superintendent 
should  get  into  close  touch  not  only  with  the  head 
teachers  of  neighbouring  schools  and  the  represen- 
tatives of  boys'  and  girls'  clubs  and  similar  or- 
ganisations, but  also  with  Care  Committees,  as  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  eligibility  of  a  child 
for  admission  to  a  Centre  should  primarily  be  its 
need,  and  not  its  good  behaviour. 

7.  Care  will,  of  course,  be  needed  in  the 
selection  of  the  assistant  members  of  the  staff.  It 
does  not  follow  that  the  best  Day  School  teacher 
will  be  the  best  Play  Centre  worker.  Any  person 
who  is  in  sympathy  with  the  children  and  able  to 
enter  into  the  spirit  of  their  games  and  occupations 


62     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

will  have  comparatively  little  trouble  as  regards 
discipline.  In  large  Centres  which  are  open  every 
night  a  nucleus  of  paid  workers  is  likely  to  be  found 
necessary,  but  the  Board  hope  that  a  considerable 
number  of  persons  who  are  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  children  may,  notwithstanding  the 
numerous  calls  upon  their  time,  come  forward  to 
assist  as  voluntary  workers.  In  many  cases  it 
may  be  possible  to  enlist  the  help  of  University 
or  Training  College  students,  some  of  the  older 
girls  from  secondary  schools,  and  individual 
members  of  boys'  and  girls'  clubs. 

8.  The  Board  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  lay 
down  rules  for  the  accommodation  of  rooms  in  a 
Plav  Centre  and  for  limiting  the  number  of 
children  in  a  class.  As  regards  both  of  these 
matters,  much  depends  on  the  nature  of  the  oc- 
cupations, the  shape  and  furnishing  of  the  room, 
and  the  ingenuity  of  the  superintendent  and 
workers.  But  the  Board  will  expect  care  to  be 
taken  that  no  room  is  inconveniently  crowded,  and 
that  no  worker  is  overburdened. 

9.  Organisation  will  be  facilitated  in  the  larger 
Centres  if  a  time-table  of  occupations  is  drawn  out 
at  the  beginning  of  the  year.  In  the  light  of  ex- 
perience it  may  be  desirable  to  recast  it,  but 
temporary  modifications  should  be  avoided  so 
far  as  possible,  in  order  that  the  children  may  know 
what  to  expect  on  any  evening,  and  at  the  as- 
sembly of  the  Centre  may  group  themselves 
according  to  the  occupation  in  which  they  desire 


THE  BOARD'S  MEMORANDUM  63 

to  take  part.  In  small  Centres  less  elaborate 
organisation  will  be  possible,  and  the  superintendent 
will  often  be  able  to  vary  the  evening's  programme 
to  meet  the  needs  and  desires  of  the  children. 

10.  The  choice  of  occupations  will  be  largely 
determined  by  the  bent  and  capacity  not  only  of 
the  helper  but  of  the  children,  and  a  wide  dis- 
cretion may  properly  be  exercised  in  meeting  the 
varying  needs  of  each  Centre.  Amongst  others  the 
following  occupations  may  be  found  suitable  : — 

Physical  exercises,  gymnastics. 

Organised  games  or  boxing  for  boys. 

Music,  dancing  and  singing  (including  singing 

games). 
Charades. 
Cobbling. 
Cooking  for  boys. 
Toy-making. 
Needlework  and  knitting. 
Doll  dressing. 
Books  and  games. 
Story-telling. 
Drawing  and  painting. 
Plasticine  for  smaller  children. 
Toy-room  for  smaller  children. 
"  Playing  at  shop  "  and  "  keeping  house." 

Many  others  will  doubtless  suggest  themselves. 

Carpentry  and  other  crafts  may  be  introduced 
with  great  advantage  where  the  necessary  facilities 
exist.      It  is  understood    that  in   London,  manual 


64     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

training  rooms  have  been  used  in  connection  with 
Play  Centres  with  excellent  results. 

On  Saturdays  and  during  the  summer  months, 
playgrounds  and  open  spaces  should  be  used  as 
much  as  possible,  and  the  occupations  will  be 
varied  accordingly. 

ii.  The  necessary  Forms  on  which  application 
may  be  made  for  the  recognition  of  a  Centre  under 
the  Regulations  may  be  obtained  from  the  Board 
of  Education,  Whitehall,  London,  S.YV. 


The  rejoicing  in  our  Committee  when  the 
Government's  decision  became  known  to  us  may 
well  be  imagined.  The  little  venture  launched  at 
Marchmont  Hall  so  many  years  before  had  at  last 
come  safe  into  port,  and  although  Mrs.  Ward  was 
by  no  means  absolved  from  her  responsibilities, 
either  in  finance  or  in  organisation,  she  could  feel 
that  the  Play  Centre  movement  had  at  length  been 
adopted  by  the  State,  and  that  its  future  was 
definitely  assured. 


CHAPTER  V 

The  London  Centres  after  the  Grant — Expansion  to  Present 
Numbers — Large  Increase  in  Cost — Change  to  One- 
session  Time-table — Old  and  New  Centres — Italian 
Centres — Jewish  Free  School — People's  Palace — The 
London  County  Council  comes  into  Line 

BEFORE  leaving  the  subject  of  the  London  Play 
Centres  it  may  be  well  to  follow  their  fortunes 
during  the  two  years  that  have  elapsed  since  the 
first  payment  of  the  Government  Grant,  to  note 
the  rapid  increase  that  has  taken  place  in  their 
numbers,  and  to  cast  a  glance  at  certain  individual 
Centres  whose  history  presents  features  of  some 
special  interest. 

On  January  i,  191 7,  we  had  only  nineteen 
Centres  in  actual  existence,  since  two  of  our  twenty- 
one —  those  at  Woolwich  and  the  Isle  of  Dogs — ■ 
had  had  to  be  closed  in  the  previous  autumn,  owing 
partly  to  financial  difficulties  and  partly  to  special 
war-conditions  in  the  districts  concerned.  The 
remoteness  and  inaccessibility  of  the  Isle  of  Dogs 
made  it  a  specially  difficult  Centre  to  staff  when 
the  goings  and  comings  of  the  teachers  might  be 
interrupted  at  any  moment  by  a  raid.  So  we 
reluctantly  came  to  this  decision,  but  as  soon  as 
we  were  informed  of  the  intentions  of  the  Board 
of  Education  (in  January,  19 17)  we  felt  that  we 
5  65 


66     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

might  respond  to  some  of  the  many  appeals  that 
were  still  reaching  us  for  the  starting  of  new 
Centres.  Accordingly,  six  new  Centres  were 
opened  in  the  course  of  191 7;  two  more  in  the 
first  quarter  of  191 8,  and  four  more  again  in 
the  "school  year"  running  from  1  April,  191S, 
to  31  March,  191 9 — which  is  now  to  be  the  official 
Play  Centre  year.  Meanwhile  the  original  "  Re- 
creation School "  at  the  Passmore  Edwards  Settle- 
ment— the  activities  of  which  had  never  diminished 
throughout  these  twenty  years — ceased  to  be 
organised  on  a  separate  basis  and  came  under  the 
Play  Centres  Committee,  thus  bringing  the  total 
of  our  London  Centres  up  to  thirty-two.  This  is 
where  the  figure  now  stands,  but  Mrs.  Ward  has 
never  disguised  her  belief  that  London  needs  some 
200  Centres,  one  to  every  four  Council  Schools, 
before  the  demand  of  the  children  can  be  regarded 
as  adequately  met. 

Up  to  now,  however,  it  has  been  impossible  to 
extend  them  at  a  more  lavish  rate  than  this,  for  the 
sum  of  money  to  be  raised  by  annual  subscription 
is  still  very  considerable,  while  the  cost  of  the 
Centres  has  risen  on  an  average  by  50  per  cent. 
Even  with  all  the  economies  practised  by  our 
superintendents — and  Heaven  knows  from  what 
unpromising  materials  they  have  devised  new 
occupations  for  the  children  ! — the  price  of  all  our 
stock-in-trade,  our  paper  and  paints,  our  cane,  our 
needlework  materials,  our  plasticine,  leather  and 
toys,  has  leapt  up  so  prodigiously  that  the  average 
cost  of  the  Centres  now  is  quite  ^375,  instead  of 


CHANGE  TO  ONE-SESSION  TIME-TABLE        67 

^275  as  in  19 14.  The  salaries  of  our  staff  have 
also  been  raised  to  meet  the  additional  cost  of  living, 
while  another  cause  of  the  increase  lies  in  the 
fact  that  from  the  autumn  of  19 16  onwards  we 
decided  to  adopt  a  one-session  instead  of  a  two- 
session  time-table.  This  measure  was  another 
result  of  the  raids,  for  the  police  advised  us  that  it 
was  undesirable  for  the  second  set  of  children  to 
line  up  and  wait  for  admission  in  the  unprotected 
street,  before  the  first  set  came  out.  The  im- 
mediate effect  of  this  step  was  of  course  a  large 
and  regrettable  drop  in  our  numbers,  since  we 
could  not  at  that  time  afford  the  additional  staff 
with  which  to  open  a  larger  number  of  classrooms  ; 
but  in  other  ways  the  system  had  its  advantages. 
Each  child  remained  for  nearly  two  hours,  changing 
its  occupation  at  half-time  instead  of  for  the  one 
hour  of  the  "two-session"  time-table,  and  so  came 
under  the  influence  of  the  Centre  more  thoroughly 
and  continuously.  It  was  a  plan  that  we  had 
already  adopted  in  some  of  our  more  "  difficult  " 
neighbourhoods,  and  now  that  the  Government 
Grant  has  once  more  enabled  us  to  enlist  a  larger 
band  of  helpers  it  is  doubtful  whether  we  shall  revert 
to  the  two-session  time-table.  The  latter  enables 
a  larger  number  of  children  to  be  entertained  for 
a  smaller  outlay  (since  the  same  group  of  helpers 
remains  on  for  the  second  session),  but  if  an  increase 
in  the  staff  can  be  afforded  and  the  same  children 
kept  throughout,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  effect 
on  them  is  more  far-reaching.  In  consulting  our 
Table  of  Attendances,  therefore,  the  reader  should 


68     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  EOR  CHILDREN 

bear  in  mind  that  although  we  are  now  only  just 
getting  back  to  the  attendances  for  19 14,  still  each 
attendance  represents  almost  twice  the  duration  of 
Play  Centre  time  for  each  child. 

One  of  the  Centres  that  we  were  enabled  to  open 
in  1 91 7  as  a  result  of  the  Government  Grant  was 
in  a  remote  and  isolated  peninsula  jutting  out  into 
the  river  amid  a  wilderness  of  docks,  approached 
only  by  a  single  long  lane  from  the  mainland  and 
surrounded  on  three  sides  by  water.  A  clergyman 
in  charge  of  a  mission-room  in  the  Island  (as  we 
will  call  this  place)  had  appealed  to  us  to  open 
a  Centre  there,  speaking  of  it  in  the  following 
terms : — 

"  This  is  a  small  place,  entirely  cut  off  by  the 
river,  with  only  one  approach  to  it — a  long  road 
called  the  Wall.  There  is  nothing  for  the  children 
to  do,  the  houses  are  too  small  to  live  in  and  have 
hardly  any  yards,  and  there  is  only  the  street  for 
play.  Consequently  the  temptation  to  get  into 
mischief  in  the  factories  and  factory  yards  is  great. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  stealing  owing  to  this,  and 
gambling." 

Investigations  were  made  in  the  Island,  and 
we  decided  to  open  a  Centre  there  at  once,  while 
one  of  our  most  experienced  workers  pluckily 
undertook  the  superintendentship.  There  were 
only  about  160  children  on  the  roll  of  the  solitary 
school,  but  they  practically  all  came  to  the  Centre, 
and  our  superintendent  soon  found  that  she  had 
her  work  cut  out  for  her  in  dealing  with  them ! 

"The  boys  here  are  the  most  difficult   I  have 


Old  and  new  centres  69 

ever  had  to  deal  with,"  she  wrote  after  a  few  weeks' 
experience.  "  At  the  same  time  they  are  intensely 
interesting  because  of  this  difficulty.  Many  of 
them  seem  to  be  veritable  young  sea-pirates — 
constantly  down  at  the  water's  edge,  seeking  what 
they  may  devour." 

And  it  was  not  only  the  boys  but  the  parents 
themselves  who  tried  to  make  Miss  C.'s  life  a 
burden  to  her  in  the  first  few  months  of  their 
acquaintance.  Her  only  punishment  for  dis- 
obedience or  insolence  among  the  boys  was  to 
expel  the  culprits  from  the  Centre  for  one  or  two 
nights,  but  they  already  loved  their  games  there 
so  much  that  this  was  resented  as  an  intolerable 
hardship.  Often  as  Miss  C.  went  home  during 
that  first  winter  she  was  waylaid  by  a  small  crowd 
of  angry  and  shouting  parents,  blindly  taking  their 
boys'  part  and  threatening  Miss  C.  with  all  manner 
of  bodily  injuries.  But  she  never  flinched  in  her 
behaviour  towards  them,  and  though  it  took  her 
a  long  up-hill  fight  she  mastered  them  at  length, 
and  has  now,  after  two  years,  got  them  to  under- 
stand that  the  only  way  to  have  happiness  in  the 
Centre  is  to  have  obedience  and  order  there  too. 
By  this  time  she  has  become  acquainted  with 
nearly  all  the  families  in  the  single  street,  wedged 
in  between  the  big-  sugar  refineries  and  the  back- 
water  that  creeps  round  the  edge  of  the  peninsula  ; 
they  are  all  related  and  inter-married,  only  three 
main  branches  being  distinguishable  amongst  them, 
and  their  children  wander  into  each  other's  houses 
at  will  or  get  lost  by  the  water's  edge  for  hours 


;o     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

without  any  notice  being  taken.  When  a  football 
flies  over  the  playground  wall  into  the  river  the 
boys  are  stripped  and  after  it  in  a  second.  If  the 
tide  is  high  they  swim  for  it,  it  low  they  wade  deep 
into  the  oozy  mud.  Many  tricks  they  have  with 
the  cargoes  of  barges  and  in-coming  ships,  often 
succeeding  in  setting  a  box  or  a  bale  floating-  that 
they  know  the  tide  will  bear  round  to  their  back- 
water after  dark,  and  bold  would  be  the  ware- 
houseman that  would  come  round  and  claim  it. 
One  day  Miss  C.  heard  that  some  of  the  big  boys 
had  carried  off  a  bundle  of  sacks  from  the  principal 
factory.  "Aren't  you  going  to  go  and  get  them 
back  ?  "  she  asked  of  the  overseer.  "  Not  me,"  he 
replied,  with  a  grin.  "Well  then,  /  will,"  she  de- 
clared, and  came  back  half  an  hour  later  with  a  crest- 
fallen procession  of  boys  carrying  the  sacks.  What 
magic  had  she  used  ?  Merely  the  announcement 
that  she  could  not  have  those  boys  at  the  Centre 
until  the  sacks  were  taken  back,  and  they,  knowing 
that  Miss  C.  meant  what  she  said,  had  capitu- 
lated at  once.  But  her  scruples  must  have  seemed 
strange  to  them,  for  nearly  all  their  front  passages 
are  carpeted  with  these  sacks,  "  pinched  "  by  their 
parents  from  the  factories ! 

"  It  is  this  free,  wild,  erratic  life  that  makes  these 
children  so  difficult  to  deal  with, "  writes  Miss  C. 
in  an  interesting  account  of  them.  "  I  have  been 
told  that  many  organisations  have  been  started 
for  the  good  of  the  Island  people,  but  they  have 
all  been  given  up.  At  the  boys'  club  everything 
was  smashed   to    pieces.       I  always  feel  that  the 


OLD  AND  NEW  i  CENTRES  71 

school  hours  are  just  about  as  much  as  the  children 
can  stand.  They  are  then  like  wild  animals  let 
out  of  a  cage.  They  do  not  care  for  the  quiet 
sitting  occupations  of  a  Play  Centre.  They  want 
space — no  end  of  space — and  vigorous  games. 
One  cannot  judge  them  from  too  hard  a  standpoint. 
They  have  plenty  of  fine  qualities,  such  as  pluck 
and  fearlessness.  They  will  defend  their  friend 
through  thick  and  thin,  and  think  it  far  more 
honourable  to  defend  an  evildoer  than  to  give 
him  up  to  justice.  The  children  will  steal  freely 
from  the  barges  and  factories,  but  if  a  boy  steals 
from  the  Play  Centre  they  will  have  him  up  before 
me  even  before  I  can  detect  the  theft.  When 
anyone  is  in  need  they  are  ready  to  give,  and  they 
have  given  freely  in  the  Great  War.  Several 
have  given  us  their  lives." 

Only  a  hundred  and  sixty  little  souls  down  there 
in  the  Island,  but  what  a  romance,  what  an  epitome 
of  England's  free,  roving  sea-life !  To  them  the 
Play  Centre  has  come  as  the  first  embodiment, 
after  their  Day  School,  of  Law,  of  civilitas  ;  not  to 
check  their  spirit,  but  to  straighten  and  strengthen 
it,  and  their  growing  devotion  to  their  Mentor — 
to  the  "  Miss  "  who  comes  to  them  so  regularly 
from  the  big  world  outside — is  the  best  proof  that 
they  stood  in  need  of  it. 

So  much  for  one  of  the  latest  of  our  London 
Play  Centres,  but  I  cannot  close  this  brief  account 
of  them  without  reverting  once  more  to  the  parent 
of  them  all — the  Children's  Recreation  School  at 
the    Passmore    Edwards    Settlement.       Here    the 


)2     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

evening  occupations  described  in  my  first  chapter 
have  developed  into  a  system  of  organised  play 
which  still  remains  the  model,  to  my  thinking,  for 
all  subsequent  efforts.  In  the  winter  months  there 
is  a  roll  of  some  900  individual  children,  with  a 
weekly  attendance  of  about  2000 ;  and  in  the 
summer  the  children  are  allowed  to  use  the  big, 
tree-shaded  garden  at  the  back  of  the  building, 
where  the  "little  mothers"  can  have  rest  while 
their  babies  sleep  or  play  in  the  swing-cots  under 
the  trees,  and  other  groups  sit  about  on  coloured 
blankets  playing  quiet  games.  Up  to  three  years 
ago  the  children  used  this  garden  for  all  the  usual 
"playground  occupations,"  including  cricket,  bas- 
ket-ball, and  rounders,  but  the  joyful  noise  that 
they  made  over  these  games  became  too  much 
for  the  back  windows  of  Tavistock  Square,  which 
overlook  the  garden,  and  our  landlord  and  constant 
friend,  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  was  assailed  with 
complaints.  So  he  was  obliged  to  give  way,  and 
now  the  stillness  of  the  very  best  behaviour  reigns 
in  the  garden,  while  the  boisterous  games  are 
relegated  to  the  small  gravelled  playground  that 
lies  between  the  Settlement  and  the  Invalid  Chil- 
dren's School  next  door. 

The  following  account  of  the  Recreation  School, 
written  by  its  superintendent,  Miss  Eleanor  Taub- 
man,  will,  I  feel  sure,  be  of  interest  to  my  readers  : — 

"  Many  children  have  joined  the  Recreation 
School  (better  known  in  the  neighbourhood  by  the 
children  as  '  Passmore's  ')  at  the  early  age  of 
a  fortnight  or  three  weeks  old.     They  are  some- 


OLD  AND  NEW  CENTRES  )3 

times  introduced  by  their  mothers,  who  take  them 
to  the  Women's  Meeting — the  mothers,  in  some 
instances,  having  been  old  Club  girls  or  associates, 
From  there  the  older  children  bring  them  to  the 
Recreation  School,  especially  in  the  summer,  when 
the  babies  can  sleep  undisturbed  in  their  '  prams ' 
under  the  trees  in  the  Settlement  garden,  while  the 
elder  ones  are  free  to  play  quiet  games  near  them, 
or  running  about  games  in  the  playground.  They 
can  come  also  on  Saturday  mornings  all  through 
the  winter,  a  very  useful  time  for  the  mothers  to 
get  rid  of  them,  while  the  generally  very  cramped 
home  is  set  in  order. 

"  The  Recreation  School  is  open  to  boys  and  girls 
up  to  the  age  when  they  leave  school  and  go  to 
work,  and  then  they  are  invited  to  join  the  Boys' 
and  Girls'  Clubs. 

"  The  superintendent  of  the  Recreation  School  is 
a  member  of  a  Care  Committee  connected  with 
some  of  the  nearest  L.C.C.  schools.  She  finds 
great  help  from  this,  hearing  as  she  does  of  cases  of 
distress  through  poverty  or  through  unhappy  homes, 
and  also  cases  of  illness,  with  the  school  doctor's 
reports  and  recommendations.  She  can  visit  these 
cases,  and  try  to  induce  those  who  do  not  know  of 
the  Recreation  School  to  send  their  children,  and 
so  put  some  natural  pleasure  into  their  lives. 

"  Out  of  sad  or  depressing  surroundings,  such 
children  come  into  the  brightly  lighted  rooms  with 
good  fires  burning,  where  toys  abound  for  those 
who  like  them,  where  there  is  dancing,  drill,  and 
music,    and    everywhere   a    sense    of   gaiety    and 


74     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

'  busyness,'  of  friends  meeting  and  going  off  in 
little  bands  to  classes  together,  and  spending  a 
happy  time  generally. 

"The  superintendent  also  can  make  friends  with 
the  mothers  of  those  children  she  gets  to  know  well ; 
she  can  find  out  the  individual  tastes  of  such  children, 
and  put  them  into  the  classes  most  congenial  to  them. 
She  learns  to  understand  why  a  child  prefers  always 
to  sit  in  a  corner  by  the  fire  with  a  book  rather 
than  go  to  physical  exercises.  She  hears  of  a  child 
with  heart  trouble  who  is  in  the  dancing  class,  which 
the  doctor  says  is  bad  for  her,  but  which  she  cannot 
be  induced  to  leave,  the  mother  not  '  having  the 
heart  to  stop  her  ! '  The  superintendent,  of  course, 
soon  sets  the  matter  right.  In  medical  work 
especially  has  the  superintendent,  who  is  also 
a  Care  Committee  member  and  visitor,  found 
'  Passmore's '  a  very  useful  asset.  Many  times 
have  angry  mothers  been  appeased  when  they  are 
told  the  visitor  knows  their  children  through  the 
Settlement,  and  quite,  often  medical  treatment  is 
discussed  most  amicably  in  consequence,  and,  what 
is  better,  carried  out. 

"A  master  in  one  of  the  L.C.C.  Schools,  who 
takes  classes  at  the  Recreation  School,  reported 
that  the  boys'  behaviour  and  conduct  in  school  had 
been  remarked  upon  as  being  greatly  improved 
during  the  last  few  years,  and  the  masters  generally 
had  agreed  that  a  great  part  of  it  was  undoubtedly 
due  to  the  Recreation  School.  This  same  master 
also  said  he  had  been  very  grateful  for  the  know- 
ledge he  had  gained,  through  mixing  with  the  boys 
in  their  play-time  as  well  as  in  their  school  time. 


OLD  AND  NEW  CENTRES  75 

"A  Manual  Training  master  having  an  evening 
class  under  the  Recreation  School  reported  that  he 
found,  in  consequence  of  the  eagerness  to  join  the 
evening  class,  a  very  marked  improvement  in  work 
and  behaviour  in  his  day  classes,  and  he  felt  pleasure 
himself  in  the  added  friendliness  of  the  boys. 

"At  the  present  time  three  L.C.C.  teachers  be- 
sides other  helpers  are  taking  voluntary  classes  in  the 
Recreation  School.  A  short  time  ago  a  teacher  of 
a  Church  School  near  visited  the  Recreation  School, 
having  heard  so  much  about  it  from  her  pupils. 
She  saw  several  of  them  in  different  classes  on 
the  evening  of  her  visit,  and  came  across  a  little 
party  of  them  in  the  Library,  busily  copying  poetry 
out  of  books,  which  they  intended  learning  and 
reciting  to  her  in  school.  This  teacher  also  said 
that  her  school  was  much  indebted  to  the  Recrea- 
tion School  for  many  pretty  dances  which  children 
attending  had  introduced. 

"Yet  another  master,  also  of  a  Church  School 
near,  reported  that  he  excused  all  homework  if  they 
could  sign  that  they  had  attended  '  Passmore's  ' 
the  evening  before.  The  knowledge  that  they  had 
been  there  under  proper  control  instead  of  running 
about  the  streets  he  considered  justified  this. 

"  Last  year's  session  began  on  September  i 
and  ended  on  July  18.  The  classes  during  the 
autumn  and  winter  terms  were  as  follows  :  Senior 
and  Junior  Girls'  Drill,  Junior  Boys'  Drill  and 
Games,  Senior  and  Junior  Dramatic,  Dancing, 
Gymnastic,  Cardboard  Modelling,  Cobbling, 
Cookery,  Painting,  Clay  Modelling,  Manual 
Training,     Basket-work,     Needlework,    a    Games' 


76     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

Room  for  big  boys,  one  for  smaller  boys  and 
girls,  and  a  Playroom  for  little  ones  between  the 
ages  of  four  and  eight.  Additional  classes  taken 
by  voluntary  helpers,  many  of  whom  came  regularly 
all  through  the  winter  and  spring  months,  included 
needlework,  rafia-work,  fairy-stories,  a  regular  every  - 
night  Games'  Room  for  big  girls,  and  a  Lending 
Library.  All  these  classes  were  much  appreciated 
by  the  children.  The  average  weekly  attendance 
for  these  months  was  1944. 

"  The  spring  and  summer  months  were  spent  out 
of  doors  when  fine.  For  girls  and  little  ones  there 
was  the  Settlement  garden  for  quiet  games  and 
occupations,  such  as  sewing,  knitting,  painting,  and 
reading  ;  or  the  playground  for  running  about  games, 
with  toys  and  sand-pit  for  the  little  ones.  Cricket 
or  football  for  big  boys  under  a  master  was  held 
in  the  Council  School  playground  near  by  every 
evening  and  Saturday  morning.  The  weekly 
average  attendance  for  these  months  was  1203." 

The  total  cost  of  the  Children's  Recreation 
School  has  never  exceeded  ^280,  even  in  the  year 
of  its  highest  attendances  (1914);  in  1916  it  was 
brought  down  by  various  economies  to  ^180. 
These  figures,  however,  do  not  include  any  charges 
for  rent,  cleaning,  lighting,  and  heating,  which  have 
been  borne  by  the  Passmore  Edwards  Settlement. 

PLAY  CENTRES  NOT  UNDER  THE  EVENING  PLAY 
CENTRES  COMMITTEE 

1.  Centres  for  Italian  Children 
Owing  to  the    energy  of  the    Dante    Alighieri 
Society  (15  Greek  Street,  Soho)  there  are  now  five 


ITALIAN  CENTRES  77 

Play  Centres  for  children  of  Italian  parents  in 
various  parts  of  London,  the  following  Council 
schools  being-  used:  — 

The  Pulteney  School,  Soho  (Founded  191 3). 

Everington    Street    School,    Hammersmith 
(Founded  191 4). 

White   Lion   Street  School,    Islington. 

Walnut  Tree  Walk  School,  Kennington. 

Portobello    Road    School,    Notting    Hill    (all 
Founded   19 19). 

The  governing  idea  of  these  Play  Centres  is, 
I  believe,  to  keep  alive  in  the  minds  of  these  little 
exiles  (who  would  naturally  speak  English  amongst 
themselves)  the  knowledge  and  love  of  their  mother- 
country,  and  it  is  both  pretty  and  moving  to  hear 
these  baby  voices  hymning  the  beauties  of  Italia, 
whose  soil  many  of  them  have  never  trodden. 
Italian  is  the  language  used  at  the  Centres,  and  the 
clever  superintendent  of  one  of  them  told  me  that  the 
children  always  pick  it  up  within  a  week,  even  if  they 
have  spoken  English  constantly  before.  Their  ac- 
cent certainly  seems  perfect  to  an  English  ear,  and 
it  is  almost  uncanny  to  hear  them  relapsing  into 
English  amongst  themselves  as  they  go  out  into  the 
street.  For  the  rest,  all  the  usual  games  and  hand- 
work occupations  are  in  use  at  these  Play  Centres, 
which  have  earned  the  full  grant  of  the  Board  of 
Education.  The  attendance  at  the  two  older 
Centres  (Soho  and  Hammersmith)  has  been  about 
250  per  evening  between  the  two  schools,  and  the 
cost  ^520;  the  other  two  have  been  founded  so 
recently  that  no  figures  are   yet   available.     The 


78     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

Centres  are  all  open  on  five  evenings  a  week.  The 
energetic  President  of  the  Dante  Alighieri  Society, 
Commendatore  Canziani,  has  been  mainly  instru- 
mental in  raising  the  money  for  the  maintenance  of 
these  Centres,  and  we  cannot  help  congratulating  him 
on  the  public  spirit  which  has  inspired  the  enterprise. 

The  Jews'   Free  School  Play  Centre 

The  magnificent  buildings  of  the  Jews'  Free 
School,  in  Middlesex  Street,  just  beyond  Liverpool 
Street  station,  have  been  used  for  the  last  ten  years 
as  the  scene  of  a  highly  organised  Play  Centre,  open 
for  2\  hours  every  evening  to  the  children  attend- 
ing the  school.  A  large  variety  of  occupations 
are  provided,  including  even  a  brass  band  and  a 
violin  class,  while  in  the  fine  gymnasium  at  the 
top  of  the  building  some  very  advanced  gymnastic 
work  on  the  part  of  the  bigger  boys  may  be  seen. 
Like  the  Italian  Centres,  this  Jewish  Play  Centre 
is  not  without  its  national  element,  for  a  regular 
part  of  these  2\  hours  is  devoted  to  the  teaching  of 
Hebrew,  though  of  course  as  an  entirely  voluntary 
subject.  A  boy  of  twelve  may  be  detailed  to  take 
the  visitor  to  the  nearest  underground  station,  and 
it  is  with  feelings  akin  to  awe  that  one  learns  that 
this  youthful  guide  has  been  studying  Hebrew  since 
he  was  six  !  No  grant  is  claimed  for  these  lessons, 
since  they  do  not  come  within  the  Board's  definition 
of  Play  Centre  occupations,  but  the  very  able 
superintendent  of  the  Centre  informed  me  that  a 
great  many  of  his  boys  would  be  learning  Hebrew 
in  any  case  in  stuffy  tenement  houses,   so  that  it 


PEOPLE'S  PALACE  79 

was  thought  far  more  desirable  to  gather  them  into 
this  great,  airy  building,  where  they  might  immedi- 
ately pass  from  the  Hebrew  class  to  open-air  games 
in  summer  or  handwork  occupations  in  winter. 
The  attendances  at  this  Centre  are  very  consider- 
able, amounting  some  years  ago  to  an  average  of 
over  600  boys  and  300  girls  every  evening  ;  but 
with  the  movement  of  population  towards  the 
suburbs  the  congestion  in  this  central  area  has  de- 
clined, and  the  average  attendance  to-day  stands  at 
425  boys  and  195  girls.  A  remarkable  feature  of 
the  attendances  is  that  they  are  as  high  in  summer 
as  in  winter,  whereas  in  the  Centres  under  our 
Committee  the  summer  figures  always  show  a  de- 
cline. During  a  typical  year  the  total  attendances 
at  the  Jewish  Free  School  Play  Centre  amounted 
to  126,120  boys  and  44,140  girls,  while  the  total 
cost  was  ^546. 

The  People's  Palace  Play  Centre 

In  1909  the  Governors  of  the  People's  Palace, 
Mile  End  Road,  entered  into  consultation  with  our 
Committee  and  shortly  afterwards  opened  a  well- 
equipped  Play  Centre  at  that  great  institution. 
One  of  our  best  superintendents  went  to  take  over 
the  new  Centre,  at  the  invitation  of  the  Governors, 
and  since  then  we  believe  that  the  Centre  has 
grown  and  flourished  and  brought  happiness  to  the 
lives  of  thousands  of  the  child  population  of  Stepney. 
The  attendances  are  almost  as  large  as  those  of  the 
last-mentioned  Centre  (the  Jews'  Free  School), 
amounting  in  the  winter  months  to  2358  per  week  ; 


80     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN      • 

but  in  the  summer  months  boys  only  are  admitted, 
and  the  attendance  drops  to  651.  The  cost  for 
the  last  financial  year  (1918-19)  amounted  to  ^410. 
The  Governors  have  not  so  far  accepted  any 
grant  from  the  Board  of  Education,  preferring  to 
run  their  Play  Centre  upon  quite  independent  lines. 

Thus  the  Play  Centre  experiment  in  London 
has  thriven  and  struck  deep  root  among  the  child 
population  of  our  greatest  city,  and  it  remains  only 
to  record  the  final  acceptance  by  the  London 
County  Council  of  a  more  definite  share  in  the 
responsibilities  of  the  venture.  The  relations  of 
our  committee — and  especially  of  its  Chairman, 
Mrs.  Ward,  with  the  L.C.C.  in  the  person  of  Sir 
Robert  Blair,  the  well-known  Education  Officer  of 
the  Council,  had  for  fifteen  years  been  most  intimate 
and  cordial ;  but  it  had  seemed  to  some  of  us  that 
the  time  was  long  in  coming  when  London's 
Parliament  would  shoulder  its  full  share  of  a 
burden  that  was  growing  too  great  for  a  single 
committee  to  bear.  The  cost  of  our  thirty-two 
Play  Centres  during  the  last  financial  year  (191 8-19) 
amounted  to  ,£12,000,  and  although  the  Board  of 
Education  paid  half,  the  raising  of  the  balance 
was  still  an  enormous  strain  on  Mrs.  Ward's 
resources.  Moreover,  the  great  towns  all  over 
England — Liverpool,  Manchester,  Bradford,  and 
nearly  fifty  more — had  led  the  way  by  establishing 
Play  Centres  of  their  own,  with  the  help  of  the 
Board  of  Education  grant,  and  it  seemed  as  if 
London's  Education  Authority  were  in  danger  of 
being    left    behind.       Fortunately,    however,     the 


LONDON  COUNTY  COUNCIL  COMES  INTO  LINE    Si 

situation  was  realised  in  time  by  the  Central  Care 
Committee,  and  a  resolution  was  passed  by  that 
body  in  May  of  this  year,  recommending  that  the 
Council  should  undertake  the  payment  of  half  the 
cost  of  the  Play  Centres.  This  was  finally  accepted 
by  the  full  Council,  and  means  in  practice  that  the 
London  County  Council  pays  one  quarter  of  the 
whole,  while  the  Board  of  Education's  half  is  divided 
between  the  Council  and  our  committee.  The  status 
of  the  "  voluntary  associations  "  is  fully  recognised 
and  the  administration  of  the  Centres  left  in  their 
hands,  but  London  admits  at  last  that  the  play- 
time of  her  children  is  her  own  direct  concern. 

If,  therefore,  the  numbers  of  London's  Play 
Centres  were  to  remain  at  32  (or  39,  including  the 
independent  Centres  just  described)  the  sum  to  be 
raised  annually  by  voluntary  subscription  would  be 
a  manageable  one,  and  we  might  look  forward  to 
a  quiet  future.  But  the  children  passing  through 
our  Centres  during  the  year  amount  to  barely 
32,000,  out  of  a  total  school  population  of  800,000. 
Voluntary  effort  can  perhaps  succeed  in  doubling 
this  number,  but  when  it  comes  to  six  times,  eight 
times,  and  ten  times  the  present  figures?  And 
nothing  less  than  this  will  enable  us  to  say  that 
London  is  "covered  ".  Surely  the  irresistible  con- 
clusion is  that  eventually  the  whole  of  this  charge 
must  be  shared  between  the  local  and  the  national 
Exchequers,  while  the  experience  gained  by  the 
Play  Centres  Committee  might  still  be  made  use 
of  in  the  administration  of  the  Centres.  At  some 
not  far  distant  date,  therefore,  we  look  forward  to 
6 


S2     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

the  taking  of  another  step  in  advance  by  the  Lorn 
don  County  Council ;  but  in  the  meantime  our 
appeal  must  still  go  forth  to  those  who  would  seize 
this  chance  of  assisting  a  new  and  growing  move- 
ment while  they  still  may.  For  every  pound  given 
by  the  public,  another  £$  is  now  added  out  of 
public  funds,  but  the  initiative  remains  with  the 
voluntary  subscriber,  for  if  he  or  she  does  not  come 
forward  in  increasing  numbers  the  Centres  will 
remain  where  they  are  now.  No  greater  incentive 
to  public  generosity  could,  I  think,  be  imagined 
than  this,  and  our  committee  confidently  hopes  lor 
a  large  increase  in  our  voluntary  subscriptions,  and 
therefore  in  the  number  of  our  Centres. 

But  we  of  the  younger  generation  may  be  for- 
given if  we  hope  also  for  an  easing  of  the  burden 
borne  for  so  long  by  one  indomitable  personality, 
whose  years  are  now  approaching  the  psalmist's 
limit,  and  whose  health  has  never  been  equal  to 
the  strain  placed  upon  it.  Mrs.  Ward's  work  for 
the  children  of  London  has  been  recognised  in  the 
manner  which  she  herself  has  most  ardently  desired, 
by  the  adoption  of  the  Play  Centre  movement 
through  the  length  and  breadth  of  England,  but 
it  still  remains  for  London,  the  home  of  the  ex- 
periment, to  accept  its  full  share  both  of  the  burden 
and  the  reward.  Within  two  years,  shall  we 
prophesy,  the  trustees  of  London's  Government  will 
have  shouldered  the  task,  and  will  see  to  it  that 
eventually  no  London  child  who  is  in  need  of  care 
and  shelter — nay  in  need  of  happiness — shall  be 
suffered  to  oo  without  it. 

O 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  Play  Centre  Movement  in  the  Great  Provincial  Towns 

ONE  of  the  most  interesting  sides  of  our  work 
at  the  Play  Centre  office  during  the  last  few 
years  has  been  the  answering  of  enquiries  which 
have  reached  us  from  every  part  of  the  country 
as  to  the  organisation  and  working  of  Play  Centres. 
Before  the  announcement  of  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion Grant  (Jan.  19 17)  such  enquiries  emanated 
almost  solely  from  voluntary  committees  or  private 
individuals,  for  no  Local  Education  Authority  ex- 
cept Bradford 1  took  advantage  of  the  permissive 
Act  of  1907  ;  but  even  so  two  Play  Centres  were 
opened  in  Edinburgh  in  191 2  (by  the  Edinburgh 
Play  Centre  Society),  and  one  in  Bristol  by  the 
University  Settlement  in  191 5,  while  Lord  Iveagh 
had  been  so  much  impressed  with  the  results  of 
the  London  movement  that  he  opened,  in  1909, 
a  Play  Centre  in  Dublin,  in  premises  specially  built 
for  the  purpose,  and  imported  one  of  our  ablest 
superintendents  to  conduct  it.  This  Centre,  ten 
years  after  its  opening,  still  flourishes  exceedingly. 
Yet  in  general  one  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  by 
the  lack  of  initiative  shown  by  most  of  the  great 
towns  in  this  respect ;  playgrounds  and  organised 

1  The  Bradford  Education  Committee  opened  a  small  Play  Centre 
at  Otley  Road  School  in  October,  1916,  before  the  advent  of  the 
Government  Grant. 

83 


84     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

games  in  the  parks  have  been  conducted  by  a 
great  many,  but  indoor  recreation  for  the  children 
in  the  winter  evenings  was,  until  191 7,  left  severely 
alone.  "  In  view  of  the  success  which  has  invari- 
ably attended  properly  organised  Evening  Play 
Centres,"  writes  Dr.  Janet  Campbell  in  her  Report 
to  the  Carnegie  Trust  on  Play  Centres  and  Play- 
grounds (191 7),  "it  is  surprising  to  find  so  few 
actually  in  existence,  and  also  that  Education 
Authorities  have  neither  given  more  positive 
encouragement  to  the  voluntary  workers  nor  under- 
taken the  establishment  of  the  Play  Centres  them- 
selves. It  is  true  that  the  use  of  school  buildings 
has  been  granted  for  this  purpose,  but  the  main 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  formation  of  Play 
Centres  by  voluntary  societies  has  been  the  diffi- 
culty of  raising  the  necessary  funds." 

After  the  Circular  issued  by  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion, however,  the  situation  was  completely  changed. 
The  number  of  enquiries  that  reached  our  office  in 
the  year  191 7  enormously  exceeded  those  of  any 
previous  year,  and  proceeded  in  the  majority  of 
cases  from  Local  Education  Authorities  rather  than 
from  voluntary  committees.  These  latter,  how- 
ever, have  by  no  means  disappeared  even  yet,  and 
recently  we  have  received  from  Jamaica  on  the  one 
hand  and  from  Ahmedabad  in  India  on  the  other, 
requests  for  advice  in  the  establishment  of  Play 
Centres!  The  Play  Centre  Committee  found  it 
advisable  to  draw  up  three  leaflets,  "The  Starting 
of  a  Play  Centre,"  "The  Cost  of  a  Play  Centre," 
and  "  Instructions  to  Superintendents,"  which  may 
still  be  obtained  from  the  office  at  the  Passmore 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     85 

Edwards  Settlement  and  which  have  found  their 
way  into  the  pigeon-holes  of  a  great  many  Educa- 
tion Committees.  It  has  also  been  a  sincere 
pleasure  to  Mrs.  Ward  and  to  our  secretaries  to  be 
able  to  show  the  actual  work  of  the  London  Play 
Centres  to  an  increasing  number  of  visitors,  and  to 
feel  that  the  living  spectacle  of  the  children's 
happiness  has  had  some  effect  in  clinching  the 
resolution  of  these  hard-working  members  of  Child 
Welfare  Committees,  Education  Committees,  and 
the  like.  But,  whatever  the  cause,  now  in  the 
summer  of  19 19  it  is  a  fact  that  no  less  than  47 
Local  Education  Authorities  have  adopted  the 
suggestion  of  the  Board  of  Education,  and  have 
between  them  opened  167  Play  Centres.1  From 
the  great  manufacturing  towns  of  the  North — 
Newcastle,  Sunderland,  Darlington,  Liverpool,  and 
Manchester — the  list  goes  down  to  Plymouth,  Ports- 
mouth, and  Southampton,  while  Birmingham  and 
the  Midlands  are  well  represented,  no  less  than  the 
Eastern  Counties.  By  the  courtesy  of  the  Directors 
of  Education  in  a  number  of  representative  cities  I 
have  been  able  to  obtain  authentic  reports  of  the 
progress  of  their  Play  Centres  during  these  first 
two  years,  and  my  only  regret  is  that  space  prevents 
me  from  printing  the  whole  of  their  reports,  or 
from  mentioning  in  detail  the  work  of  all  the  Local 
Authorities.  Taking,  however,  almost  at  random, 
a  selection  of  eight  great  cities,  it  is  remarkable  to 
find  how  unanimous  their  verdict  is  on  the  good 
results  already  obtained  from  the  first  year's  or  the 

1  See  list  at  end  of  this  chapter, 


S6     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  EOR  CHILDREN 

first    two  years'   experiment.  Here  is   their  own 

account  of  the  matter,  taken  from  the  reports  so 

generously  sent  to  me  by  the  Directors  of  Educa- 
tion : — 

i.   Manchester 

The  Manchester  Education  Committee  estab- 
lished seven  Play  Centres  in  September,  191 7, 
most  of  which  were  open  on  five  evenings  in  the 
week,  from  6.30  to  8  p.m.  The  number  has  now 
risen  to  eleven,  while  four  more  are  contemplated 
for  this  autumn  (191 9),  and  eventually  it  is  hoped 
to  raise  the  number  to  thirty-two.  The  eleven 
existing  Centres  have  a  roll  of  about  Sooo  children, 
with  an  average  daily  attendance  of  2446,  and  the 
total  cost  during  the  last  year's  working  was  ^4340, 
representing  an  average  of  about  ^400  per  Centre. 
The  children  eligible  for  admission  are  at  present 
limited  to  those  over  ten  years  of  age,  but  children 
of  nine  will  probably  be  admitted  this  winter.  The 
Director  also  suggests  that  "  one  or  two  Centres  for 
children  between  five  and  nine  years  of  age  might 
eventually  be  opened  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  even- 
ing and  be  tried  as  an  experiment  in  certain  parts 
of  the  city".  "  In  most  of  the  Centres,"  continues 
the  Director,  "the  children  have  not  been  en- 
couraged to  attend  every  night  in  the  week  mainly 
owing  to  the  lack  of  accommodation  :  two  evenings 
are  reserved  for  juniors  (ten  to  twelve  years  of  age) 
and  three  evenings  for  seniors  (twelve  to  fourteen 
years  of  age).  Exceptions  are  made  in  the  case  of 
'juniors'  or  'seniors'  unable   to  attend    on    their 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     87 

respective  evenings,  nor  is  the  arrangement  so 
strictly  adhered  to  as  was  necessary  at  the  begin- 
ning. Indeed,  in  one  of  these  Centres,  approxi- 
mately forty  boys  have  never  missed  attending  since 
it  was  opened." 

It  is  a  common  sight  when  visiting  the  Centres 
to  find  a  group  of  boys  and  girls  waiting  at  the  door 
but  unable  to  gain  admission  either  because  they 
are  below  the  age  of  ten  years,  or  because  the 
Centre  is  full.  Sometimes  a  mother  sends  her  girl 
with  the  baby  and  then  goes  off  herself  to  see 
friends  or  to  the  Pictures.  At  first,  the  girl  was 
allowed  in  and  the  baby  too,  but  the  practice  grew, 
and  it  was  found  necessary  to  make  a  stand  against 
it  for  the  sake  of  the  other  children. 

The  Attitude  of  the  Parents 

Parents  have  visited  the  Centres  to  enquire  if 
their  boys  were  attending.  "  He  tells  me  that  he 
comes  several  evenings  per  week,  but  1  can  hardly 
believe  it,"  they  say  in  effect.  But  in  every  case 
they  have  found  the  boy  happy  in  his  play  or  oc- 
cupation. In  one  or  two  cases  they  have  been  so 
impressed  by  the  value  of  the  Centre  that  they  have 
offered  to  become  voluntary  workers,  and  are  now 
enrolled  on  the  staff. 

Other  parents  have  made  gifts  of  toys  and  small 
prizes  to  the  Centres,  and  the  general  attitude  of 
mothers  and  fathers  appears  to  be  one  of  gratitude 
that  such  provision  is  made  for  the  recreation  of 
their  boys  and  girls.  Their  main  criticism  is  that 
the  younger  ones  of  school  age  are  not  allowed  to 
attend. 


88     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

The  Director  pays  a  tribute  to  the  regularity  and 
efficiency  of  the  Voluntary  Helpers,  who  form  about 
one-third  of  the  whole  staff. 

"The  number  of  voluntary  workers,"  he  says, 
"  has  varied  from  40  to  50  and  their  attendances  each 
week  from  70  to  85,  the  average  being  j6.  It  is 
worth  noting  that  their  attendance  has  proved  so 
reliable  and  steady,  and  it  speaks  highly  for  their  de- 
voted services  and  keen  interest  in  the  movement. 

"  In  addition  to  the  above,  former  scholars  at  the 
schools  where  the  Centres  are  held  have  acted  as 
stewards,  and  assisted  in  registration,  oversight  of 
various  quiet  occupations,  etc." 

Then  follows  a  detailed  account  of  the  occupa- 
tions pursued  at  the  various  Centres — a  very  full 
and  varied  programme,  including  practically  every- 
thing likely  to  be  attractive  to  small  hands  and 
eager  brains.  Since  most  of  these  occupations  have, 
however,  been  mentioned  in  dealing  with  the 
London  Centres  we  need  not  repeat  them  here, 
save  to  mention  a  few  original  departures  which 
seem  to  us  highly  suggestive,  e.g. :  — 

"(1)  Repairs  to  household  things,  such  as  chairs, 
clocks,  kettles,  pans. 

"(Instruction  is  also  given  in  handyman  repairs 
such  as  tap  washers,  sash  cords.) 

"  Where  there  is  no  Manual  Room  an  ordinary 
classroom  is  utilised,  the  boys  being  provided  with 
a  few  simple  tools. 

"(2)  Passe-partout  picture-framing. 

11  Picture  post  cards  and  photographs  are  framed 
and  go  to  decorate  the  homes. 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     89 

"  (3)  Needlework. 

"  One  Centre  makes  a  feature  of  the  making  and 
mending  of  garments,  and  the  parents  have  several 
times  shown  their  appreciation  of  the  value  of  such 
help.  At  another  Centre  the  childiren  are  taught  to 
make  bright  collars  and  other  decorative  trifles  on 
condition  that  they  wear  them  at  the  Centre.  The 
material  is  mostly  given  by  helpers  and  friends. 

"  (4)  Week-end  excursions.  (This  is,  of  course, 
during  the  summer  only.) 

"A  small  week-end  camp  has  been  started  near 
Pott  Shrigley  as  a  branch  of  the  Centres'  activities. 
A  barn  with  boarded  floor  has  been  secured  at 
Birchencliff  Farm,  and  accommodates  30  to  36  boys 
or  girls.  There  is  also  a  covered  shed  in  which 
there  might  be  a  certain  amount  of  play  in  wet 
weather.  The  children  provide  their  own  food, 
and  prepare  their  meals.  The  place  is  reached  by 
car  from  Manchester  to  Hazel  Grove,  at  a  cost  of 
9d.  for  the  return  journey  for  children  under  14 
years  of  age.  A  walk  of  4  to  5  miles  to  the  Camp 
follows.  The  parties  usually  leave  Manchester  on 
Friday  evening  and  return  on  Sunday  afternoon. 

"  Each  Centre  is  to  have  the  use  of  the  Camp  for 
at  least  one  week-end  during  the  summer. 

"The  staffs  of  the  Centres  have  kindly  volunteered 
their  services  to  run  the  Camp  this  year  as  an  ex- 
periment. 

"If  the  Camp  proves  as  successful  as  it  promises 
to  be,  it  is  suggested  that  additional  Camps  should 
be  arranged  in  other  parts  of  the  country  round  the 
city  in  subsequent  years. 


go     EVENING   PLAY  CENTRES  EOR  CHILDREN 

"  Camps  on  a  larger  scale  might  eventually  be 
organised  for  boys  and  girls  during  the  spring  and 
summer  holidays,  etc.  As,  however,  the  children 
would  provide  the  cost  of  their  own  food,  the  ex- 
pense of  running  such  Camps  would  not  be  likely 
to  prove  a  serious  matter." 

Some  of  the  children  at  these  Manchester 
Centres  remind  us  of  our   London  types  : — 

"  A  number  of  cases  could  be  cited,"  writes  the 
Director,  "  of  rough  boys  who  joined  the  Centres 
'  for  a  lark  '  ;  left  after  finding  that  a  certain  amount 
of  respect  for  the  comfort  of  the  other  children  was 
required,  and  afterwards  rejoined  and  became 
interested  members  and  useful  stewards.  One 
superintendent  mentions  that  several  boys  in  the 
Centre,  and  girls  too,  are,  to  put  it  mildly,  '  well- 
known  in  the  district'.  He  prepared  a  list  of  them 
and  gathered  them  in  one  or  two  at  a  time.  The 
Centre  is  gradually  absorbing  them  and  they  seem 
to  have  caused  little  trouble.  Like  the  other 
members  they  became  interested  in  the  varied 
games  and  occupations  :  they  were  too  busy  to  have 
time  for  mischief." 

Finally,  the  Director  sums  up  the  effect  of  the 
Centres  on  the  children  under  various  headings, 
from  which  I  select  the  following : — 

"A.    The  Spirit  of  the  Centre 

"At  the  outset  an  endeavour  was  made,  as  sug- 
gested in  the  Board's  circular  960,  to  reproduce 
in  the  Centres  '  the  atmosphere  and  spirit  of 
a  happy  and  well-ordered  home  ', 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     91 

"  With  this  end  in  view,  the  children  have  been 
allowed  as  much  individual  freedom  as  possible,  with 
due  regard  to  the  freedom  and  comfort  of  others. 

"  A  child  is  allowed  to  enter  at  any  time  during 
the  evening  session,  though  in  practice  it  is  found 
that  the  majority  of  the  children  attend  much  earlier 
than  the  stated  time  (6.30  to  8  p.m.).  Some,  how- 
ever, are  detained  at  home  to  help,  or  have  to  wait 
until  the  mother  returns  from  her  day's  work,  while 
others  go  errands,  etc. 

"  Once  in  the  Centre,  the  boys  and  girls  are 
allowed  to  take  up  any  occupation  or  join  in  any 
game  they  choose,  and,  further,  they  may  change  at 
any  time  to  another  room.  At  first  many  of  them 
were  so  excited  that  they  did  not  quite  know  how 
to  make  the  best  use  of  this  new  and  unaccustomed 
liberty  in  a  school  building.  They  changed  fre- 
quently, and  had  no  sooner  begun  one  thing  than 
they  imagined  something  else  would  be  more 
interesting.  But  this  feeling  gradually  wore  off ; 
the  children  discovered  what  they  liked  best ;  and 
later  it  was  found  somewhat  unusual  for  more  than 
a  few  to  change  except  when  a  general  move  took 
place — usually  half-way  through  the  evening,  i.e., 
at  7.15  p.m. 

"  The  only  case  in  which  this  liberty  was  curtailed 
was  in  the  Folk  Dancing  Class.  Here  it  was  found 
that,  in  order  to  make  any  real  progress  at  all,  the 
attendance  must  be  more  or  less  regular,  and  so 
after  the  first  week  or  two  only  those  who  gave  in 
their  names  were  allowed  to  take  part. 

"  The  children  now  are  so  keenly  interested  in 


92     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

their  self-chosen  occupations  and  games  that  often 
the  difficulty  is  to  convince  them  that  it  is  time  for 
the  Centre  to  close. 

"  The  happiest  relationship  exists  between  the 
staffs  (both  paid  and  voluntary)  of  the  Centres  and 
members. 

"  The  superintendent  endeavours  to  know  each 
boy  and  girl  by  name.  He  learns  something  of 
their  characters  and  in  many  cases  knows  some- 
thing of  their  homes.  The  helpers  lead  the  games 
without  organising  them  so  fully  as  to  get  them 
played  automatically  according  to  rule  with  the  zest 
and  pleasure  missing.  In  the  Quiet  Games'  Rooms 
they  take  a  hand  at  draughts,  or  chess,  or  at  Table 
Tennis,  etc.,  and  so  get  into  intimate  touch  with 
the  boys  and  girls.  A  superintendent  writes : 
'  We  cultivated  that  happy  mean  of  friendliness  with 
the  children  which  breaks  down  the  barrier  between 
them  and  grown-ups,  and  whilst  giving  both 
freedom  in  their  relations  with  each  other,  still 
allows  the  respect  which  ought  to  come  from  the 
child  to  the  adult.' 

"B.    Why  the  Children  Attend 

"  In  one  or  two  of  the  Centres  the  children  have 
been  asked  to  write  down  spontaneously  why  they 
attend  the  Centre.  Here  are  a  few  of  their  re- 
marks : — 

"(a)  '  I  used  to  sit  in  the  house,  having  nothing 
to  do  nor  nowhere  to  go.  One  night  somebody 
told  me  that  a  Play  Centre  had  been  opened.  I 
ran  off  at  once,     When  I  got  there  it  had  begun. 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     93 

When  I  got  in  the  boys  were  all  jolly  and  laugh- 
ing".     It  was  warm  and  comfortable  inside.' 

"(d)  'I  come  to  play — there  is  no  other  place  to 
play,  and  I  would  have  to  play  in  the  house  and 
in  the  street,  which  is  not  half  so  interesting.' 

"(c)  'I  come  to  the  Play  Centre  to  enjoy  myself, 
playing  games  and  show  children  who  don't  know 
how  to  play  them.  The  boxing  has  improved  my 
strength.' 

"(d)  'I  come  to  the  Play  Centre  because  it  is 
free  and  it  is  so  dark  outside.  What  is  the  use  of 
walking  about  in  the  dark  street  when  you  can 
come  into  a  warm  building  like  this  ? ' 

"  (e)  '  On  Wednesday  we  have  a  concert  and  it 
is  always  a  success.  Sometimes  boys  sing  comics 
and  we  are  nearly  bursting  with  laughing.  Prizes 
are  given  to  the  best  singers.  The  prize  that  is 
the  best  of  all  is  being  able  to  come  to  the  Play 
Centre.' 

"(f)  'I  always  come  to  the  Play  Centre  when  I 
have  time  because  it  is  such  a  jolly  place.  I  have 
told  my  mother  about  it,  and  I  will  tell  my  father 
when  he  comes  home  from  Egypt.' 

"(g)  '  It  is  all  right  when  you  have  nowhere  to 
go  on  a  cold  winter's  night.' 

"(h)  'The  best  thing  about  the  Play  Centre  is 
that  every  day  I  make  a  new  friend.' 

"  (i)  '  I  like  the  Play  Centre  because  it  is  so  jolly 
and  we  are  out  of  our  mother's  road.' 

"  C.  Conclusion 

"It  is  not  intended  to  claim  too  much  for  the 
Centres,  but  it  is  clearly  evident  that  the  children 


94     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

who  are  members  are  being  gradually  equipped 
with  the  means  of  employing  their  leisure,  not  only 
at  present  but  also  in  after  life,  in  interesting  and 
healthy-minded  ways,  and  that  this  acquisition  may 
prove  in  some  measure  an  antidote  to  the  craving 
for  more  exciting  forms  of  amusement.  Hobbies 
may  become  invaluable  not  only  to  the  young  boy 
and  girl  but  to  the  adolescent  and  juvenile-adult, 
and  assist  in  some  measure  in  guiding  them  safely 
over  a  difficult  period  of  life,  particularly  in  cases 
of  lax  parental  control.  The  habit  of  rational 
enjoyment  will  create  a  demand  for  similar  op- 
portunities after  school  age,  such,  for  example, 
as  are  offered  by  the  existing  various  juvenile 
organisations  for  social  welfare. 

"  Spurley  Hey, 
"  Director  of  Education. 
"February,   191 8." 

2.   Salford 

Salford  was  one  of  the  very  earliest  Boroughs 
to  establish  Play  Centres,  eight  of  them  (in  six 
schools)  being  in  full  swing  during  the  summer 
of  191 7,  whereas  in  nearly  all  the  other  great  towns 
the  Centres  were  not  opened  until  September. 
The  number  of  children  admitted  was  comparatively 
small — about  100  per  evening  in  each  Centre — 
and  the  cost  of  maintenance  correspondingly  low, 
amounting  to  only  ^520  for  the  two  winter  terms. 
September,  19 17,  to  April,  191 8.  The  Board  of 
Education  was  much  interested  in  Salford's  in- 
itiative, and  the  following  Report  from  the  Board's 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     95 

Inspector  (May,  19 18)  shows  what  excellent  work 
had  already  been  done  in  the  Borough  : — 

Copy  of  Report  from  Board  of  Education 

"  A  large  proportion  of  the  inner  and  older  parts 
of  the  County  Borough  of  Salford  is  closely  built 
over  with  small  houses  with  little  space  for  the 
numerous  children  of  school  age  in  which  to  ex- 
ercise their  natural  instinct  for  free  play  when  ouc 
of  school,  and  the  provision  of  a  reasonable  al- 
lowance of  playground  space  for  use  during  school 
hours  is  a  matter  of  great  difficulty  in  many  instances. 

"  Hence  the  great  importance  of  the  courageous 
step  taken  last  summer  by  the  Salford  Education 
Authority  in  opening  no  fewer  than  six  schools 
(eight  Departments)  as  '  Play  Centres  '  in  which, 
under  friendly  guidance  and  unobtrusive  control, 
the  children  could  find  room  and  scope  for  their 
natural  desire  to  play. 

"  No  fixed  lines  were  laid  down  upon  which  the 
Centres  were  to  be  conducted,  nor  were  the 
teachers  or  children  drawn  necessarily  from  the 
particular  schools  which  served  as  Centres. 

"  The  organisers  and  teachers — mainly  day  school 
teachers,  reinforced  by  a  number  of  voluntary 
helpers — assisted  by  the  advice  and  co-operation 
of  the  Authority's  Officials,  and  of  Members  of  the 
Education  Committee  who  were  specially  interested 
in  the  project,  developed  a  great  variety  both  in 
the  range  of  the  actual  pursuits  followed  and  also 
in  the  methods  of  organisation. 

"In  addition  to  teaching  the  children  how  to  take 


96     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

proper  part  in  active  outdoor  organised  games, 
opportunities  for  quiet  indoor  games  and  reading 
were  provided  :  in  fact,  the  only  limitation  was 
that  imposed  by  the  necessity  of  equipment.  The 
children  themselves  were  encouraged  to  take  an 
active  share  in  the  work  of  organisation  and  did 
so  with  much  keenness. 

"  Although  it  is  yet  early  to  pronounce  a  final 
opinion  as  to  the  future  form  and  extent  which 
such  Centres  will  play  in  the  elementary  school 
life  of  the  future,  the  present  experiment  has  been 
fully  justified,  and  has  proved  a  boon  to  both  the 
children  and  their  parents. 

"  The  Education  Authority  are  to  be  sincerely 
congratulated  upon  their  public  spirit  and  initiative 
in  starting,  on  so  considerable  a  scale,  upon  what 
may  seem  to  many  a  novel  and  hazardous  ex- 
periment, though  in  schools  other  than  elementary 
the  need  of  organised  play  for  scholars  outside 
the  school  hours  has  now  long  been  recognised. 

"  Recognition  is  also  due  to  the  teachers  for  the 
enthusiasm  and  energy  with  which  they  have 
taken  up  this  new  work  at  a  time  when  the  or- 
dinary demands  made  upon  them  are  in  various 
ways  increased. 

"  The  Board  of  Education  are  watching  the  ex- 
periment with  interest  and  sympathy,  and  they 
hope  that  the  Authority  will  find  it  possible  in 
the  light  of  the  experience  already  gained  to 
extend  the  existing  provision,  as  circumstances 
allow  from  time  to  time,  to  other  areas  and  perhaps 
in  other  ways  not  at  present  foreseen." 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     97 

The  number  of  fully  equipped  Play  Centres  in 
Salford  is  now  seven,  and  the  Secretary  to  the  Edu- 
cation Committee  writes  that  "  the  Committee  are 
satisfied  that  the  movement  is  one  which  should 
be  encouraged  and  developed  ". 

3.    Liverpool 

Liverpool  was  a  year  later  than  Manchester  in 
opening  its  Play  Centres,  but  there  were  many 
reasons  for  this,  chief  among  them  perhaps  the  fact 
that  the  town  possessed  a  flourishing  branch  of  the 
Children's  Happy  Evenings  Association.  Lady 
Derby  and  Mrs.  W.  H.  Williams,  then  Lady 
Mayoress,  inaugurated  this  branch  in  191 1,  and 
Mr.  Legge,  the  Director  of  Education,  bears  wit- 
ness to  the  good  work  done  by  the  organisation. 
In  his  Memorandum  to  the  Liverpool  Education 
Committee,  dated  February,  19 18 — an  important 
document  in  the  history  of  the  Play  Centre  move- 
ment— he  writes  as  follows  :  "It  has  provided 
weekly  or  fortnightly  evenings  for  children  in  a 
number  of  schools  in  Liverpool,  nearly  all  of  them 
schools  in  the  poorest  districts.  The  work  of  this 
Association  has  been  purely  on  a  voluntary  basis, 
and  during  the  last  three  years  the  war  has  been 
a  most  serious  handicap,  since  war  needs  have  en- 
grossed the  time  and  energy  of  most  of  the  volun- 
tary assistants.  But  even  up  to  the  end  of  the  first 
year  of  the  war  there  were  thirteen  Centres  at 
work,  with  a  total  number  of  attendances  during 
the  season  of  27,955." 

When,  however,  the  Board  of  Education  urged 

7 


98     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

the  adoption  of  the  more  <  comprehensive  Play 
Centre  scheme  the  Education  Committee  agreed 
to  this  policy  (in  the  spring  of  191 8),  and  the 
Director  drew  up  the  above-mentioned  Memoran- 
dum, from  which  I  cannot  resist  quoting  a  few  very 
convincing  sentences  ; — 

"There  is  no  doubt,"  he  writes,  "that  this 
movement  is  fraught  with  the  utmost  possibilities 
for  the  benefit  of  the  rising  generation.  If  carried 
to  a  successful  issue  it  is  bound  to  affect  profoundly 
and  for  good  the  whole  generation,  for  the  purpose 
is  nothing  less  than  to  offer  to  all  children  the  bene- 
fits of  the  well-ordered  home,  and  so  fulfil  the  pur- 
pose which  is  admitted  to  be  that  of  a  national 
policy  of  education,  viz.  to  afford  equal  opportunities 
to  all.  Furthermore,  the  socially  civilising  influence 
of  the  Play  Centre  will  provide  just  the  supplement 
that  is  required  to  the  intellectual  discipline  of  the 
Day  School.  That  intellectual  discipline  has  been 
already  supplemented  by  the  teachers  in  various 
ways — by  personal  interest  shown  in  the  children 
and  their  parents,  by  the  work  of  the  Sports  As- 
sociation, and  so  forth ;  but  they  cannot  do  the  im- 
possible, and  it  may  now  be  hoped  that  there  will 
become  available  the  force  they  need  to  support 
them,  that  of  either  a  good  home  influence  or  of 
something  corresponding,  as  near  as  may  be,  to  a 
good  home  influence. 

"  The  desideratum  to-day  is  to  co-ordinate  and 
enormously  to  extend,  as  a  definite  function  of  the 
Education    Committee,   the    work  that   has    been 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     99 

carried  on,  admittedly  in  a  somewhat  desultory 
fashion,  by  such  organisations  as  are  referred  to 
above  [the  Kyrle  Society,  the  Children's  Happy 
Evenings  Association,  and  others].  It  is  necessary 
clearly  to  realise  how  vast  is  the  aim — hardly  less 
vast  indeed  than  the  proposal  of  the  new  Educa- 
tion Bill  to  provide  Continued  Education  for  every 
young  person  in  the  country  between  fourteen  and 
eighteen  years  of  age.  The  ideal  neither  in  Play 
Centres  nor  in  Continued  Education  can  possibly 
be  achieved  at  one  blow  ;  it  will  have  to  be  realised 
gradually,  and  this  Memorandum  will  not  propose 
more  than  an  experimental  beginning,  though  on  a 
scale  adequate  to  the  importance  of  the  matter." 

Then  follows  a  detailed  setting-forth  of  the  aims 
and  the  methods  of  organisation  that  should  govern 
the  new  Centres,  and  finally  the  recommendation 
that  twelve  Play  Centres  should  be  opened 
"initially"  in  Liverpool  when  the  schools  met 
again  after  the  summer  holidays.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  only  nine  Centres  were  actually  opened  on 
September  23,  1 9 1 8,  but  the  number  has  now  risen  to 
eleven,  and  it  is  hoped  to  increase  them  to  twenty 
before  very  long.  The  Centres  are  only  open  on 
three  evenings  in  the  week.  A  special  feature  of 
the  Liverpool  organisation  is  that  an  Inspector  (Mr. 
J.  W.  Twidale)  has  been  appointed  to  supervise 
the  arrangements  of  all  the  Centres ;  his  functions 
are,  indeed,  analogous  to  those  of  >our  "  Visiting 
Secretary  "  in  London,  and  we  believe  that  the 
energy  and  goodwill  which  he  has  thrown  into  the 
work   have  conduced    not   a    little  to  the  success 


ioo     EVENING   PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

which  has  attended  the  first  year's  working  of  the 
Play  Centres  in  Liverpool.  The  paid  staff  consists 
almost  entirely  of  teachers  from  the  elementary 
schools,  who  heartily  welcome  this  opportunity  of 
getting  to  know  their  children  better,  and  there  has 
also  been  a  fair  sprinkling  of  voluntary  helpers. 
In  one  respect  the  Liverpool  Play  Centres  have 
been  most  fortunate  ;  they  have  inherited  the  whole 
stock  of  games  and  equipment  possessed  by  the 
Happy  Evenings  Association,  which  made  over 
their  "plant"  as  a  free  gift  to  the  new  Centres  ; 
hence  the  cost  for  the  first  year  has  not  been  so 
heavy  as  it  would  otherwise  have  been.  The  esti- 
mated expenditure  was  ^400  per  Centre,  based 
on  a  programme  of  three  evenings  per  week,  but 
it  is  not  yet  possible  to  know  whether  this  figure 
has  been  exceeded.  Nor  are  the  attendances  for 
the  first  year  yet  accessible,  but  the  average  attend- 
ance per  evening  during  the  first  week  was  2887, 
which  at  three  evenings  per  week  and  forty  weeks 
in  the  year  gives  a  total  attendance  of  nearly 
350,000. 

4.   Birmingham 

It  was  in  October,  1917,  that  the  first  five  Play 
Centres  under  the  Birmingham  Education  Com- 
mittee were  opened  "  as  an  experiment  ".  Now 
there  are  six,  and  the  chief  organiser  writes  :  "  We 
feel  that  they  have  met  a  real  need,  and  great  im- 
provement in  the  health  and  also  in  the  mental 
state  of  the  children  has  been  very  marked  ".  The 
live  Centres  were  divided   into  two  for  boys,   two 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     101 

for  girls,  and  one  mixed,  and  at  the  end  of  the  first 
winter's  Session  the  Central  Care  Committee  re- 
ported on  them  very  favourably  as  follows  : — 

"  The  Centres  were  a  marked  success,  and  cer- 
tainly achieved  their  purpose  in  providing  relaxation 
and  enjoyment  for  the  children.  The  superin- 
tendents introduced  a  great  variety  of  healthy  team 
games,  dancing,  boxing,  handwork  in  many  forms, 
singing,  reading,  and  other  pastimes.  The  children 
very  often  had  their  own  choice  of  games  and  oc- 
cupation, and  although  they  were  under  discipline 
it  was  almost  unperceived  by  them,  especially  after 
the  first  few  weeks.  A  great  improvement  in  the 
children's  manners  towards  each  other  and  in  their 
fairness  in  play,  and  a  general  toning  down  of  the 
stronger  and  rougher  children  were  noticeable  as 
the  session  progressed.  It  was  thus  proved  that 
the  Centres,  in  addition  to  their  great  physical 
benefits,  had  a  certain  moral  value  in  this  unob- 
trusive character  training.  About  iooo  children 
were  admitted  at  the  beginning,  300  more  tickets 
were  issued  as  some  of  the  children  left,  and  the 
averaee  attendance  through  the  session  was  over 
600.  The  Centres  were  staffed  approximately  at 
the  rate  of  25  children  to  each  member." 

Apparently  the  "  mixed  "  Centre  was  considered 
the  most  successful  in  the  first  year,  for  the  sixth 
Centre  was  organised  on  the  "mixed"  principle, 
and  one  of  the  original  Girls'  Centres  was  converted 
into  a  Mixed  Centre  for  the  second  year.  The 
Superintendent's  Report  on  this  converted  Centre 
is  so  vivid  that  I  quote  it  here  in  full  : — 


102     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 
Tilton  Road  Play  Centre  (Mixed) 
Report  for  Session,    1 9 1 8- 1 9 

Number  on  roll  250. 

Average  attendance  per  night  for  Session,  188 '4. 

The  Staff  consists  of — 

(a)  A  Superintendent. 

(6)  One  Chief  Assistant  Master. 

(c)  One  Assistant  Master. 

(d)  Four  Women  Assistants. 

The  average  number  of  children  per  class  works 
out  at  thirty.  For  an  ideal  Play  Centre  there 
should  not  be  an  average  of  above  twenty. 

I  consider  that  I  have  an  exceptionally  capable, 
industrious,  and  original  Staff. 

This  Session  Tilton  Road  was  opened  as  a 
Mixed  Centre,  and  we  all  feel  that  the  play  has 
been  much  more  enjoyable.  We  find  boys  have 
been  very  keenly  interested  in  the  girls'  work, 
particularly  the  dancing,  and  the  girls  have  been 
delighted  with  the  physical  work  of  the  lads, 
especially  the  boxing,  fencing,  and  punch-ball.  It 
is  a  very  good  thing  for  brothers  and  sisters  to 
come  to  the  same  Play  Centre  and  watch,  and 
sometimes  share,  in  each  other's  games.  At  home 
there  is  little  opportunity  for  them  to  see  what  each 
other  can  do.  It  is  surprising  how  little  the  girls, 
know  of  their  brothers'  lives  and  pursuits,  and  vice 
versa. 

The  efforts  of  my  Staff  to  teach  the  children  to 
play  have  been  most  successful.  We  have  to  turn 
away  many  children  every  night,  who  try  to  get  in 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     103 

without  tickets.  Play  Centre  is  so  popular  that  one 
little  girl,  who  had  tried  to  get  in  for  many  nights 
in  succession,  brought  2d.  to  pay,  thereby  thinking 
to  oain  admission. 

The  children's  eagerness  to  come  is  the  best 
testimonial  to  the  efforts  of  my  Staff. 

We  use  six  classrooms  and  two  halls.  These 
enable  us  to  carry  out  a  big  physical  programme 
which  makes  the  Centre  so  popular.  Each  girls' 
class  gets  thirty-five  minutes'  dancing  and  organised 
games  in  the  hall  every  night.  Each  boys'  class 
gets  thirty-five  minutes  in  the  main  hall  for  games 
needing  floor  space,  games  in  which  every  boy  in 
the  class  can  join.  In  the  classrooms  the  girls  have 
raffia  work,  doll-dressing,  painting,  handwork  of 
various  descriptions,  drawing  on  blackboards,  card 
games,  reading,  and  dramatising.  Occasionally  the 
girls  arrange  a  concert  on  their  own.  In  the  boys' 
classrooms  there  are  draughts,  cards,  boxing,  punch- 
ball,  table-tennis,  paints,  tracing,  pitching,  and  shoot- 
ing— games  in  which  two,  three,  or  four  boys  take 
part. 

The  boys'  shoes  were  bad,  and  were  a  drawback 
to  them  in  their  physical  work.  Each  boy  has 
made  for  himself  a  pair  of  slippers  out  of  old  carpet 
and  sacking.  These  they  find  extremely  useful. 
They  were  most  keen  on  making  them. 

During  the  past  week  or  two,  when  weather 
permitted,  we  have  spent  most  of  the  time  in  organ- 
ised physical  work  in  the  playground,  the  girls 
showing  a  keen  interest  in  skipping  and  ball  games 
of  all    descriptions,  while    the  older  lads  couldn't 


io4    EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

leave  the  football  alone.  Every  night  the  children 
go  home  just  wanting  a  little  more. 

The  more  experience  I  have  of  Play  Centre 
work,  the  more  firmly  am  I  convinced  that  the 
physical  side  of  it  is  the  great  attraction  and  conse- 
quently the  great  necessity.  In  the  small  rooms  of 
their  homes,  and  the  confined  and  cramped  spaces 
of  their  back-yards,  the  children  have  not  room  to 
exercise  the  freedom  of  their  limbs.  They  certainly 
have  the  side  streets  and  the  entries,  but  they  are 
chased  out  of  these  by  the  neighbours  who  do  not 
like  the  noise.  It  is  natural  to  children  to  be  active 
and  noisy,  and  if  they  can  come  to  a  place  where 
they  can  give  vent  to  their  activities  and  feel 
absolutely  free  to  play  at  whatever  they  want,  so 
much  the  better  for  them  and  their  development. 

From  the  physical  point  of  view  Play  Centre 
work  cannot  be  rated  too  highly. 

As  regards  the  older  lads  and  girls,  while  their 
energies  are  employed  in  physical  work  and  they 
are  enjoying  themselves  so  keenly,  there  is  no  time 
for  the  low  thoughts  and  actions,  so  often  engendered 
by  their  home  environment,  to  show  themselves. 
Play  Centre  should  be  a  second  and  better  home  for 
them. 

Play  Centre  has  developed  a  sense  of  behaviour, 
which  should  increase  as  the  work  progresses.  The 
children  realise  that  behaviour  must  take  the  place 
of  school  discipline,  and  although  they  know  they 
are  free  to  do  as  they  like,  it  is  necessary  to  deport 
themselves  in  such  a  way  that  they  are  not 
nuisances  to  others  whose  tastes  differ. 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     105 

If  Play  Centre  fosters  a  spirit  of  orderly  behaviour, 
a  sense  of  give  and  take,  and  is  the  means  of  en- 
couraging free  and  natural  expression  of  thought 
and  action  with  a  view  to  doing-  the  right  and  fair 
because  it  is  the  right  thing  to  do,  then  I  think 
Play  Centres  are  doing  a  great  deal  towards  making 
"a  new  and  better  England". 

(Signed)         G.  Wallace, 

Superintendent. 

At  one  of  the  Girls'  Centres  the  superintendent 
could  not  resist  admitting  some  of  the  older  boys 
who  begged  most  piteously  to  be  allowed  in. 

"  The  Centre  was  provided  for  Girls  and  Infants, 
which  arrangement  of  course  only  includes  boys  of 
seven  and  eight  years  old.  Many  boys  from  the 
Upper  Department  have  asked  to  be  allowed  to 
come  in  sometimes.  They  have  been  admitted 
from  time  to  time — their  behaviour  was  splendid 
and  appreciation  evident.  They  always  withdrew 
on  being  requested  to  do  so.  This  practice,  how- 
ever, had  to  be  discontinued,  because  the  number 
of  boys  who  wished  to  come  grew  too  rapidly,  and 
we  had  not  accommodation  for  them.  When  some 
could  not  get  in,  they  vented  their  feelings  at  the 
windows,  but  this  only  happened  on  two  occasions, 
and  was  the  only  little  trouble  we  had.  It  was  not 
fair  for  some  boys,  viz.  the  first-comers,  to  be 
admitted  and  others  refused,  so  we  discontinued  the 
practice  entirely.  I  have  been  asked  by  numbers 
of  most  polite  boys,  '  Do  you  think  there  will  ever  be 
a  Centre  for  us  ? '  and  have  answered,  '  I  hope  so  '." 


io6     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

But  at  the  Boys'  own  Centre  at  another  school  they 
had  a  glorious  time.     The  superintendent  writes  : — 

"The  last  quarter  of  an  hour  each  evening  has 
been  devoted  to — 

"General  assembly  in  hall. 

"  Marching. 

"  Singing  or  rather  shouting  of  patriotic  songs. 

"  Band  practice. 

"  God  save  the  King. 

"  Perhaps  the  item  Band  Practice  requires  a  word 
or  two  of  explanation.  When  the  Centre  opened 
one  or  two  boys  were  noticed  with  tin  whistles  pro- 
truding from  their  pockets.  A  '  Band'  soon  sprang 
into  existence,  and  was  the  means  of  great  enjoy- 
ment and  amusement,  not  only  to  the  performers, 
but  to  the  listeners,  teachers  included.  The  boys 
were  encouraged  to  bring  '  instruments,'  and  soon 
mouth  organs,  musical  submarines,  combs,  various 
substitutes  for  bones  and  cymbals  and  a  Jew's  harp 
found  their  way  into  the  band,  which  sometimes 
approached  fifty  performers.  Yes,  I  quite  agree, 
that  the  harmony  could  have  been  improved,  but  I 
1  hae  ma  doots  '  about  the  boys'  enjoyment.  This 
continued  to  be  very  popular  for  five  months. 

"  I  regret  that  I  have  no  figures  to  give  of  the 
total  attendances  or  the  cost  of  the  Birmingham 
Centres." 

5.   Newport  (Mon.) 

In  proportion  to  its  population,  the  town  of  New- 
port has  shown  keener  enterprise  in  its  Play  Centre 
policy  than  almost  any  other  borough.      It  has  no 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     107 

less  than  nine  Centres,  which  are  open  from  5.30 
to  7.-30  on  five  evenings  per  week,  with  an  average 
attendance  of  over  2000  per  night,  and  moreover 
they  are  kept  going  throughout  the  yea?',  holidays 
included.  The  Secretary  to  the  Education  Com- 
mittee reports  of  them:  — 

"  The  children  are  taken  out  into  the  parks  and 
fields  when  the  weather  is  fine,  and  during  the  dark 
evenings  they  of  course  remain  in  the  various 
Centres.  There  are  several  swimming  classes  and 
tennis  classes,  and  all  outdoor  sports  are  encouraged, 
including,  during  the  winter,  inter-centre  football 
matches.  In  addition  to  the  ordinary  games,  a 
feature  is  made  in  the  Boys'  Centres  of  boxing  and 
fencing,  under,  of  course,  qualified  instructors,  whilst 
in  the  Girls'  Centres  morris  dancing,  singing,  and 
needlework  are  specially  encouraged,  and  there  is 
a  reading-room  for  quiet  reading.  A  room  is  also 
set  aside  for  quiet  games  such  as  draughts,  dominoes, 
ludo,  etc.  Lantern  lectures  are  frequently  given, 
and  there  have  been  several  fancy-dress  carnivals. 
Parents  are  invited  to  attend  on  certain  specified 
nights,  and  this  side  of  the  movement  will  be  en- 
couraged in  every  way. 

"  The  Staff  of  each  Centre  consists  of  a  Superin- 
tendent and  a  sufficient  number  of  paid  helpers 
according  to  the  requirements  of  the  attendance. 
The  total  Staff  employed  is  about  50. 

"  We  are  informed  that  since  the  Play  Centres  have 
been  running  during  the  past  eighteen  months,  there 
is  a  considerably  less  number  of  juvenile  delin- 
quencies than  formerly  existed. 


ioS     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

"The  expenditure  during  the  current  year  upon 
these  Centres  is  estimated  at  ^3959." 

Thus  the  Borough  of  Newport  is  willing  to  spend 
about  ^2000  a  year  on  the  play-time  of  its  children, 
while  Manchester,  with  perhaps  five  times  the  popu- 
lation, spends  ^2200,  and  London,  with  sixty  times, 
has  just  agreed  to  spend  ^3000.  Truly  we  are  not 
surprised  that  the  number  of  "juvenile  delinquen- 
cies "  in  Newport  is  on  the  decline  ! 

6.   Bradford 

The  great  Yorkshire  towns  have,  as  might  be 
imagined,  not  been  behindhand  in  taking  up  the 
new  policy  urged  by  the  Board  of  Education.  Of 
the  total  number  of  167  Play  Centres  now  opened 
outside  London,  Yorkshire  has  thirty-seven,  or  nearly 
a  quarter  of  the  whole,  and  of  these  Bradford  heads 
the  list  with  thirteen,  while  Leeds  has  six,  and 
Sheffield,  Huddersfield,  Shipley,  and  York  have  all 
started  well  with  four  or  three  apiece.1  I  should 
have  liked  to  print  reports  from  all  these  famous 
cities,  but  my  space  is  too  limited,  and  I  must  there- 
fore confine  myself  to  a  brief  account  of  the  Play 
Centre  movement  as  it  has  shaped  itself  in  Bradford 
and  Leeds. 

Bradford  has  so  often  been  the  pioneer  in  move- 
ments of  social  progress  that  it  will  surprise  no  one 
to  hear  that  one  municipal  Play  Centre  was  opened 
there  even  before  the  announcement  of  the  Govern- 
ment Grant.      It  was,  however,  on  a   very    small 

1  See  list  on  p.  119. 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     109 

scale,  and  it  was  not  until  the  spring  of  19 17  that 
the  Education  Committee  decided,  in  the  Director's 
words,  to  "go  boldly  forward".  Eleven  Centres 
were  opened  as  early  as  June,  and  another  in  July, 
and  4000  children  were  provided  for  in  the  first 
week.  Now  there  are  thirteen  Centres,  with  an 
average  attendance  of  1 800  per  evening,  and  as  the 
Centres  are  open  on  five  evenings  a  week  the 
weekly  attendance  is  about  9000.  The  total  ex- 
penditure for  last  year  amounted  to  ^3800,  of  which, 
as  usual,  the  Board  of  Education    paid  half. 

After  their  first  few  weeks'  experience  of  the 
Centres  under  summer  conditions,  the  Bradford 
Education  Committee  reported  as  follows  of  the 
new  movement:  — 

"One  vital  point  which  has  already  emerged 
from  the  experiment  is  that  a  Play  Centre  at  which 
nothing  is  attempted  but  play,  i.e.  organised  games, 
cannot  be  completely  successful.  As  the  object  of 
a  Centre  may  briefly  be  stated  to  be  to  train 
children  to  find  the  best  means  of  employing  their 
leisure,  both  for  their  own  sakes  and  for  the  sake  of 
the  community,  it  follows  that  scope  must  be  given 
for  the  development  in  the  individuals  of  that  which 
most  appeals  to  them.  This  can  only  be  done  by 
the  provision  of  an  attractive  and  varied  programme 
which  will  enable  the  individual  voluntarily  to  se- 
lect that  which  most  appeals  to  his  tastes.  Organised 
games  will,  of  course,  play  an  important  part  in  the 
programme,  but  they  should  be  selected  primarily 
with  a  view  to  all-round  physical  development  and 
to  the  cultivation  of  true  esprit  de  corps. 


no     EVENING   PLAY  CENTRES   FOR  CHILDREN 

"  The  occupations  provided,  in  addition  to  organ- 
ised games,  should  be  of  an  educational  character 
with  the  object  of  developing  the  mental  and  moral 
sides  of  the  child,  and  they  should  offer  scope  for 
the  child  to  follow  any  favourite  pursuit  or  '  bent,' 
literary,  artistic,  or  manual. 

"  Music  and  dancing  will  form  important  items  in 
the  programme.  The  children  should  be  led  to 
appreciate  really  good  music  (vocal  and  instrumen- 
tal), and  massed  singing  in  the  school  style,  as 
opposed  to  the  street  or  music  hall  style,  will  un- 
doubtedly appeal  to  most  of  them.  The  musical 
teacher  could  go  far  with  children  of  musical  tastes, 
and  a  children's  choir  or  even  orchestra  would 
probably  be  one  of  the  most  attractive  features  of 
a  Centre.  There  are  many  talented  musicians  in 
the  city  who  would  be  glad  to  sing  or  play  for  the 
children  occasionally,  and  there  is  no  better  way  of 
cultivating  a  taste  for  good  music  than  by  saturat- 
ing the  listener  with  it. 

"  So  with  dancing  and  the  other  arts.  The 
teacher  who  is  an  enthusiast  in  any  direction  has 
great  opportunities,  in  fact  the  only  limits  to  the 
possibilities  of  a  Play  Centre  are  the  capacities  of 
the  Staff." 

This  report  was  of  necessity  couched  mainly  in 
the  future  tense,  but  after  two  years'  further  experi- 
ence it  is  pleasant  to  record  the  Director's  opinion 
that  "  the  initial  success  of  the  movement  here  has 
been  well  sustained,  and  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  the  Play  Centre  is  an  established  and 
permanent  factor  in  education  ". 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     in 

7.    Leeds 

The  Director  of  Education  of  the  city  of  Leeds 
sends  me  the  following  information  on  the  Play- 
Centres  established  there  : — 

Lfeds  Education  Committee 

Evening  Play  Centres 

Six  evening  Play  Centres  were  opened  in  the 
artisan  districts  of  Leeds  in  September,  1 9 17,  and 
the  results  of  two  years'  experience  of  this  beneficent 
social  and  educational  work  have  amply  justified 
the  efforts  of  the  Leeds  Education  Committee,  their 
organisers,  and  their  teachers. 

The  Centres  are  usually  open  on  three  even- 
ings each  week,  generally  from  5  to  7  p.m.,  from 
September  to  the  end  of  June  (except  during  school 
holidays).  During  the  year  ended  March  31, 
1 919,  they  were  each  open  about  90  times  and  the 
average  attendance  was  1048.  There  was  in 
addition  an  average  attendance  of  83  babies. 

Methods  of  classification — the  most  difficult 
problem  for  Evening  Play  Centres — varied  in  the 
different  Centres,  but  generally  the  most  effective 
organisation  was  to  have  separate  rooms  for  the 
different  classes  of  work,  e.g.  a  Reading  Room 
(story-books  and  picture-books  and  for  "story-tel- 
ling "  by  teachers)  ;  a  Sewing  Room  (embroidery, 
plain  and  fancy  sewing,  dressing  dolls,  etc.)  ;  a 
Writing,  Drawing,  and  Painting  Room  ;  an  Oc- 
cupation Room  (light  woodwork,  toy-making,  paper 


ii2     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

and  cardboard  modelling,  clay  and  plasticine  model- 
ling, etc.)  ;  a  Games  Room  (draughts,  dominoes, 
ludo,  snakes  and  ladders,  and  other  parlour  games) ; 
a  "Gymnasium"  Room  (boxing,  punch-ball,  gym- 
nastics, basket-ball,  etc.),  with  one  room  set  apart 
for  singing,  dancing,  and  organised  games  for  boys 
and  girls,  and  if  necessary  another  room  for 
organised  games  for  the  older  boys.  There  is 
in  each  Centre  also  a  Nursery  Classroom  (with 
suitable  toys,  a  swing,  bricks,  dolls,  etc.),  under 
the  care  of  a  motherly  person,  for  the  "babies" 
who  cannot  be  left  at  home,  and  who  must  be  pro- 
vided for  to  enable  their  older  brothers  and  sisters 
to  attend  the  Centre. 

Under  this  organisation  each  child  has  oppor- 
tunity for  exercising  individual  taste,  and  perfect 
freedom  or  choice  of  occupation,  recreation,  and 
amusement,  and  is  able  to  leave  one  room  for 
another  at  its  own  will  and  its  own  time. 

The  Centres  are  becoming  attractive  children's 
clubs,  and  outstanding  features  at  different  Centres 
emphasise  the  wisdom  of  appointing  as  superin- 
tendents of  Centres  teachers  who  possess  strong 
individuality,  freshness  of  method  and  initiative, 
inventiveness,  and  real  interest  in  this  important 
social  work. 

Thus  at  one  Centre  concerts  were  given  and 
a  Children's  Operetta,  "  Will  o'  the  Wisp,"  was 
presented,  and  sports  were  held  in  the  playground 
at  the  close  of  the  Session. 

At  another  Centre  many  original  models  were 
constructed,  and   fairly  substantial  toy  motor-cars 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     113 

were  made  from  scrap  material  and  sold  at  2s.  6d. 
each,  and  the  sale  of  scent  sachets  provided  ad- 
ditional material.  Summer  outings  and  organised 
rambles  were  also  organised. 

At  another  Centre  "Open  Nights"  and  monthly 
lantern  were  a  permanent  feature. 

The  school  activities  in  the  summer  term  (Easter 
to  end  of  June)  are  largely  centred  on  out-of-door 
sports.  Cricket  and  other  games  in  the  school-yard 
or  roof  playground  or  in  adjacent  parks  and  open 
spaces  have  tended  to  cement  the  corporate  life  of 
the  Play  Centre.  The  boys  and  girls  have  learnt 
to  "  play  the  game  "  and  "  share  with  others  ". 

During  the  forthcoming  Session  it  is  hoped  to 
establish  properly  organised  classes  in  "  cobbling  ". 

Despite  the  difficulties  of  the  dark  shadow  of  the 
war,  and  two  long  periods  of  closure  on  account 
of  influenza  epidemic,  the  Session  19 18- 19  has  been 
a  distinct  success. 

The  cost  of  the  maintenance  of  the  Centres 
during  the  year  ended  March  31,  191 9,  was 
^"1510  12s.  2d.,  towards  which  the  Local  Authority 
have  received  a  grant  of  50  per  cent  from  the  Board 
of  Education. 

It  will  be  seen  that  while  the  total  attendances 
have  been  lower  in  Leeds  than  in  most  of  the  other 
great  towns — about  100,000  for  the  year,  as  against 
360,000  for  Bradford  and  nearly  500,000  for  New- 
port and  Manchester — this  is  mainly  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  Centres  have  only  been  open  about  ninety 
times  each  during  the  year.      Possibly  the  conditions 


ti4     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

of  street  life  in  Leeds  do  not  make  a  more  frequent 
opening  necessary,  but  in  studying  the  figures  one 
cannot  resist  the  observation  that  if  the  existing 
Centres  were  kept  open  for  five  evenings  a  week 
and  for  forty  weeks  in  the  year  (as  in  London),  the 
attendance  of  children  would  be  more  than  doubled 
without  any  appreciable  increase  in  the  cost  of 
plant  and  material.  But  on  one  point  Leeds  sets  the 
example  to  the  rest :  it  has  apparently  accepted  and 
regularised  the  attendance  of  babies,  which  means 
an  enormous  boon  to  the  older  girls. 

8.   Sunderland 

The  great  shipbuilding  town  of  Sunderland 
possesses  a  very  active  Child  Welfare  Association, 
to  which  the  Education  Committee  delegates  the 
task  of  co-ordinating  and  supervising  all  the  social 
work  for  children  that  is  carried  out  in  the  Borough. 
This  Association  became  seriously  concerned  at 
the  increase  in  juvenile  crime  which  the  war  condi- 
tions brought  about  in  191 6  and  19 17,  and  applied 
to  the  Education  Committee  for  authority  to  open 
Play  Centres.  This  was  granted  in  November, 
19 1 7  (a  maximum  number  of  twelve  Centres  being 
authorised),  and  by  the  spring  of  191 8  five  Centres 
had  been  opened.  There  are  now  six,  meeting 
on  four  evenings  per  week,  and  with  an  average 
attendance  per  night  per  Centre  of  nearly  200 
children.  This  would  give  a  total  attendance  for 
the  year  (if  the  Centres  are  open  for  forty  weeks) 
of  192,000.  The  Chief  Education  Officer  writes: 
"  The  total  cost  of   running   the  Centres    for  the 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     115 

year  ended  March  31,  1919,  was  ^1105  19s.  6d. 
It  is  hoped  to  establish  additional  Centres  in  other 
parts  of  the  Borough  as  soon  as  the  schools  recently 
evacuated  by  the  Military  Authority  have  been 
renovated." 

One  of  the  reports  of  the  superintendents  is  in- 
teresting as  showing  the  small  beginnings  from 
which  a  successful  Centre  sprang,  and  I  append  it 
here  in  full  : — 

Thomas  Street  Play  Centre 
Girls  and  Juniors  (Mixed) 

The  above  Centre  was  commenced  on  Monday, 
April  15,  1918.  It  meets  each  evening  (Monday, 
Tuesday,  Wednesday,  and  Thursday),  from  5.30  to 

7- 30. 

The  number  of  children  who  applied  for  admis- 
sion on  April  15  was  forty-nine.  Gradually  the 
numbers  increased  until  June  17,  when  they 
reached  the  highest  total — 232.  The  average 
present  since  the  commencement  of  the  Centre  is 
about  160.     The  number  at  last  meeting"  was  220. 

The  time-table  varies  each  evening-.  A  certain 
amount  of  physical  recreation  and  suitable  hand- 
work, as  well  as  story-telling,  reading,  and  singing, 
is  indulged  in  by  the  children.  Weather  permit- 
ting, the  children  are  out  in  the  open-air  almost  all 
the  evening.  It  was  with  great  trepidation  that 
we  opened  our  doors  the  first  evening,  for  we  knew 
that  the  success  or  failure  of  our  future  depended 
on  the  first  impression  given.  The  Child  Welfare 
movement  is  quite  new  to  the  district,  and  it  was 


n6     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

evident  that  it  was  not  quite  understood  what 
"  Play  Centre"  meant,  for  the  first  evening's  num- 
bers were  not  quite  so  high  as  anticipated.  Those 
whom  we  admitted  seemed  to  come  in  a  spirit  of 
enquiry.  Evidently  the  evening's  proceedings  im- 
pressed favourably,  for  at  closing  time  the  requests 
for  tickets  of  admittance  for  friends  were  numerous, 
and  the  following  night's  increase  in  numbers  proved 
that  they  had  enjoyed  themselves.  Our  greatest 
difficulty  during  those  early  days  was  to  infuse  an 
atmosphere  of  orderly  organised  play  among  our 
visitors.  They  seemed  to  think  that  a  Play  Centre 
differed  so  much  from  what  they  understood  as 
school  that  it  needed  neither  cleanliness  nor  dis- 
cipline. 

When  the  Play  Centre  opened  the  most  notice- 
able feature  was  the  utter  lack  of  initiative  among 
the  children  to  amuse  themselves.  They  were 
quite  willing  to  be  amused,  but  did  not  know  how 
to  begin. 

At  first,  in  order  to  see  what  was  really  needed, 
the  stock  (books,  paper,  pencils,  games,  etc.)  was 
placed  in  various  rooms,  and  the  children  were 
allowed  to  decide  what  they  would  do.  The  older 
girls  settled  down  to  reading  and  embroidery,  but 
the  younger  ones  wished  to  change  their  occupation 
every  few  minutes.  Some  also  wilfully  destroyed 
the  materials.  At  this  point,  the  helpers  decided 
to  follow  a  definite  plan — dancing,  singing  rhythmic 
work,  and  various  games  were  undertaken,  and  the 
children  chose  which  they  would  do.  This  plan 
seemed    to   work    better,    for    although    a   certain 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     117 

amount  of  freedom  is  allowed,  and  the  children  can 
change  from  one  occupation  to  another,  usually, 
save  where  games  are  being  taken  in  the  open-air, 
the  children  prefer  to  remain  at  their  handwork, 
dancing,  etc.,  until  the  general  assembly  towards 
the  end  of  each  Session. 

On  the  whole,  we  are  finding  the  children  more 
responsive,  and  they  are  now  beginning  to  have 
definite  ideas  as  how  they  would  like  to  spend  their 
time. 

The  increase  in  the  attendance  shows  that  a 
Centre  was  badly  needed  in  this  neighbourhood. 

Hannah  C.  Alder)  Joint 

Dorothy  Ross        /  Superintendents. 

June  24,  1918. 

Finally,  the  Chairman  of  the  Child  Welfare 
Association  concludes  his  report  with  these  words: — 

"The  Play  Centre  Movement  would  appear  to 
be  the  solution  for  many  of  the  juvenile  social 
questions  at  present  before  the  responsible  au- 
thorities of  the  town,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that,  in 
any  schemes  for  housing  and  the  development  of 
the  Borough,  the  question  of  adequate  spaces  being 
reserved  for  Recreation  and  Play  for  all  classes 
of  the  community  will  not  be  overlooked." 

9.    Norwich 

The  Organiser  of  Elementary  Education  for  the 
City  of  Norwich — the  famous  old  Capital  of  the 
Eastern  Counties — sends  me  the  following  report 
on  the  progress  of  the  movement   there.     From 


n8     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

the  reports  of  his  superintendents,  which  I  have 
also  seen,  it  would  appear  that  the  need  for  evening 
recreation  among  these  Norwich  children  is  as 
great  as  it  is  anywhere,  but  so  far  it  has  only  been 
possible  to  open  the  Centres  during  the  summer 
months.  With  this  limitation,  however,  they  have 
been  an  unqualified  success,  and  the  improvement 
in  the  children's  manners,  and  in  the  intelligence 
of  backward  children,  has  been  specially  noted. 
The  Organiser  writes  : — 

"  The  experiment  of  organising  Evening  Play 
Centres  was  first  tried  in  Norwich  during  the 
summer  of  19 17,  when  two  Centres  were  opened 
and  carried  on  during  the  summer  months.  These 
Centres  proved  so  popular  that  it  was  desired  to 
extend  the  Session  during  the  autumn,  but  owing 
to  the  Lighting  Order  this  was  found  impossible. 
In  19 1 8  the  Education  Committee  increased  the 
number  of  Play  Centres  to  six,  the  locality  of  each 
Centre  being  determined  by  the  lack  of  suitable 
provision  in  the  neighbourhood  for  the  recreation 
of  children  out  of  school  hours.  Again,  the  Centres 
were  so  successful  that  the  Committee  decided  to 
increase  the  number  to  eight  in  19 19.  At  present, 
therefore,  there  are  eight  Evening  Play  Centres 
(two  for  boys,  one  for  boys  and  girls,  and  five 
for  girls)  open  on  four  evenings  per  week  from 
6  to  7.30  p.m.  The  Session  opened  in  April  and  will 
continue  until  September.  The  Centres  are  staffed 
by  teachers  from  the  elementary  schools,  and  the 
Staff  consists  of  a  superintendent  and  three  or  four 
assistants.     The   average    number    of   children  in 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     119 

attendance  at  each  Centre  is  from  100  to  120,  and 
the  cost  of  maintenance  is  approximatefy  ^60  per 
Centre  per  Session. 

LIST  OF  LOCAL  EDUCATION  AUTHORITIES  NOW  CON- 
DUCTING EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES 


ERRATUM 

Page  119,  Footnote  for  heading  of  table.     The  number  of  Play  Centres 
outside  London  had  risen  by  December,  1919,  to  nearly  300. 


baling 

a 

"««f«-j    • 

t 

Hereford 

1 

Southampton  . 

r 

Hornsey  . 

2 

South  Shields 

2 

Huddersfield    . 

4 

Sunderland 

6 

Ilkeston   . 

1 

Swansea 

2 

Ipswich    . 

1 

West  Bromwich 

2 

Kingston-upon-Hull 

1 

West  Ham 

2 

Lanes. 

1 

Wood  Green  . 

1 

Leeds 

6 

Worcester 

2 

Lines.  Lindsey 

2 

York 

3 

Liverpool 

10 

Total  No.  0 

"  Centres 

.     167 

Local  Education  Authorities      47 


n8     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

the  reports  of  his  superintendents,  which  I  have 
also  seen,  it  would  appear  that  the  need  for  evening 
recreation  among  these  Norwich  children  is  as 
great  as  it  is  anywhere,  but  so  far  it  has  only  been 
on<;m'h1e.  to  open  the  Centres  during  the  summer 


extend  the  Session  during   mc  auiu...... 

to  the  Lighting  Order  this  was  found  impossible. 
In  19 1 8  the  Education  Committee  increased  the 
number  of  Play  Centres  to  six,  the  locality  of  each 
Centre  being  determined  by  the  lack  of  suitable 
provision  in  the  neighbourhood  for  the  recreation 
of  children  out  of  school  hours.  Again,  the  Centres 
were  so  successful  that  the  Committee  decided  to 
increase  the  number  to  eight  in  1919.  At  present, 
therefore,  there  are  eight  Evening  Play  Centres 
(two  for  boys,  one  for  boys  and  girls,  and  five 
for  girls)  open  on  four  evenings  per  week  from 
6  to  7.30  p.m.  The  Session  opened  in  April  and  will 
continue  until  September.  The  Centres  are  staffed 
by  teachers  from  the  elementary  schools,  and  the 
Staff  consists  of  a  superintendent  and  three  or  four 
assistants.     The   average    number    of  children  in 


THE  MOVEMENT  IN  PROVINCIAL  TOWNS     119 

attendance  at  each  Centre  is  from  100  to  120,  and 
the  cost  of  maintenance  is  approximatefy  ^60  per 
Centre  per  Session. 

LIST  OF  LOCAL  EDUCATION  AUTHORITIES  NOW  CON- 
DUCTING EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES 


No.  of 

No.  of 

Area. 

Centres. 

Area. 

Centres 

Aberdare 

2 

Manchester 

II 

Acton 

2 

Middlesex 

4 

Birkenhead 

I 

Newcastle-upon-Tyne 

3 

Birmingham    . 

6 

Newport  (Mon.) 

8 

Blackburn 

2 

Norwich 

9 

Bradford 

13 

Nottingham    . 

9 

Burton-on-Trent 

2 

Oldbury  . 

1 

Carlisle    .         .         .         . 

3 

Plymouth 

4 

Cheltenham 

2 

Portsmouth 

5 

Coventry 

1 

Preston    . 

2 

Darlington 

2 

Salford    . 

7 

Dewsbury 

1 

Scarborough   . 

1 

Dudley     . 

6 

Sheffield 

4 

Ealing 

2 

Shipley   . 

4 

Hereford 

1 

Southampton  . 

1 

Hornsey  . 

2 

South  Shields 

2 

Huddersfield    . 

4 

Sunderland 

6 

Ilkeston   . 

1 

Swansea 

2 

Ipswich    . 

1 

West  Bromwich 

2 

Kingston-upon-Hull 

1 

West  Ham 

2 

Lanes. 

1 

Wood  Green  . 

1 

Leeds 

6 

Worcester 

2 

Lines.  Lindsey 

2 

York 

3 

Liverpool 

10 

Total  No.  0 

"  Centres 

.     167 

>>           11 

Local  Education  Authorities      47 

CHAPTER  VII 

Vacation  Schools  and  Organised  Playgrounds 

i.    The    Vacation    School    at    the    Passmore 
Edwards  Settlement 

THE  Play  Centre  movement  sprang,  as  we 
have  seen,  from  small  beginnings  at  March- 
mont  Hall  and  the  Passmore  Edwards  Settlement 
during  the  last  years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
we  may  truthfully  say  that  our  efforts  there  did  not 
owe  their  inspiration  to  the  work  of  any  other  organi- 
sation, either  in  England  or  America.  They  arose 
spontaneously  from  the  needs  of  the  district,  com- 
bined with  the  exceptional  opportunities  afforded 
by  the  Settlement  building.  But  in  the  case  of 
the  Vacation  School  which  was  first  opened  by 
Mrs.  Ward  in  these  same  buildings  in  1902,  the 
case  was  slightly  different,  for  Vacation  Schools 
and  organised  playgrounds  had  been  carried  on 
in  New  York  since  1894,  a°d  Mrs.  Ward  was 
well  aware  of  the  fact.  When  in  1908  she  paid 
a  visit  to  the  United  States  she  was  to  hear  in 
much  detail  of  the  magnitude  of  the  American 
effort — of  the  thirty-one  Vacation  Schools  that  were 
then  running,  under  the  Board  of  Education,  in 
New  York  City  alone,  and  of  the  magnificent  work 

120 


VACATION  SCHOOLS  121 

of  the  Playground  Association  of  America — but 
in  1002  her  knowledge  of  this  movement  was 
derived  mainly  from  an  article  in  the  "  Nineteenth 
Century  "  by  Mr.  Henry  Curtis,  and  it  was  her 
own  imaginative  realisation  of  the  possibilities  of 
such  a  scheme  that  led  to  the  foundation  of  the 
Settlement  Vacation  School.  The  Settlement 
building  stood  once  more  ready  to  her  hand  ;  the 
active  goodwill  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford — owner 
of  the  garden  and  of  an  attractive  piece  of  "  waste 
land "  beyond — was  easily  enlisted,  and  a  fund 
raised  among  eight  or  ten  of  Mrs.  Ward's  old 
supporters  and  friends,  who  undertook  to  see  her 
through  this  new  experiment. 

Nor  was  the  London  School  Board — then  still 
the  Education  Authority  for  London — behindhand 
with  its  encouragement  and  help,  for  it  willingly 
agreed  to  make  the  school  a  generous  loan  of 
school  furniture  and  manual  training  equipment, 
and  watched  the  experiment  throughout  with  sym- 
pathetic interest.  Now  as  I  write  the  Settlement 
Vacation  School  is  entering  upon  its  eighteenth 
Session,  for  so  much  is  it  beloved  by  the  child- 
population  of  St.  Pancras  that  not  even  the  war 
has  been  allowed  to  interrupt  its  existence. 

The  need  for  some  organised  occupation  for 
the  children  of  our  great  cities  during  the  summer 
holidays  must  be  obvious  to  anyone  who  will  take 
the  trouble  to  wander,  with  the  eye  of  vision, 
through  some  of  these  squalid  streets  in  the  month 
of  August.  The  children  are  everywhere,  playing 
in  roadways,  gutters,  and  on  doorsteps,  but  playing 


122     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  EOR  CHILDREN 

too  often  in  a  bored  and  weary  way,  or  with  that 
loud-voiced  quarrelsomeness  that  reveals  the  lack 
of  real  pleasure  in  the  game.  Vet  it  is  no  less 
obvious  that  the  hard-worked  teachers  of  our 
elementary  schools  must  have  their  summer  holi- 
day, and  that  the  children  should  have  their 
break  from  the  routine-work  of  the  year  ;  what 
alternative,  then,  can  be  offered  them  to  the  un- 
relieved monotony  of  the  street  ?  Here  it  was 
that  our  experience  with  the  Children's  Recreation 
School  came  to  our  assistance,  and  showed  us 
that  with  the  same  simple  equipment  and  kindly 
supervision  the  same  result  might  be  obtained  in 
August  as  we  had  already  obtained  in  the  winter 
evenings.  But  the  organisation  of  the  school  was 
of  necessity  somewhat  more  elaborate  than  that 
of  the  evening  classes  and  occupations,  for  not  only 
was  the  number  of  children  to  be  dealt  with  larger, 
but  a  complete  double  time-table  had  to  be  arranged, 
in  the  building  and  the  garden,  according  to  the 
vicissitudes  of  the  weather.  Mrs.  Ward  was 
fortunate,  however,  from  the  very  outset  in 
securing  as  director  of  the  school  Mr.  E.  G. 
Holland,  an  assistant  master  of  the  Highgate 
Secondary  School,  who,  although  the  work  was 
wholly  new  to  him,  combined  an  astonishing 
mastery  of  detail  with  an  unbounded  enthusiasm 
for  the  cause.  "Mr.  Holland,"  wrote  Mrs.  Ward 
in  her  first  year's  report  on  the  school,  "  was  called 
upon  at  a  fortnight's  notice  to  conduct  a  wholly 
novel  experiment,  in  a  large  building  quite  unknown 
to  him  and  never  designed  for  a  school,     Twelve 


VACATION  SCHOOLS  123 

subjects  were  taught  by  as  many  teachers  in 
twelve  classrooms  or  garden  encampments.  It 
was  part  of  the  scheme  that  each  child  should  be 
alternately  in  the  building  and  in  the  garden  ; 
but  when  rain  came  the  whole  school  had  to  be 
housed  in  the  building.  If  anyone  will  think 
what  this  means  in  the  way  of  arrangement  and 
time-table,  he  will  appreciate  the  fact  that  from 
the  beginning  of  the  school  to  the  end  there  was 
never  the  slightest  hitch.  The  children  moved 
from  house  to  garden,  or  from  class  to  class,  at 
the  sound  of  a  bell,  each  knowing  his  or  her  place  ; 
and,  if  wet  weather  came,  the  wet  weather  ar- 
rangements were  instantly  brought  into  play,  and 
worked  quite  smoothly."  This  simple  but  perfect 
organisation  was  entirely  the  work  of  Mr.  Holland 
and  Miss  B.  Churcher,  who  again  co-operated  from 
behind  the  scenes  with  her  unfailing  skill  and 
energy,  and  the  best  testimony  to  Mr.  Holland's 
work  is  that  he  remained  in  command  of  the  school 
for  thirteen  consecutive  years,  until  the  tide  of 
war  broke  in  confusion  over  it,  and  carried  him 
away  to  other  labours. 

The  number  of  children  admitted  to  the  Vacation 
School  amounted  to  750  in  the  first  two  years 
(divided  into  a  morning  and  an  afternoon  school)  ; 
but  from  1904  onwards  it  became  possible  to  enlarge 
the  scheme  by  bringing  into  use  the  buildings  of  the 
Invalid  Children's  School  across  the  playground, 
and  attendances  of  over  1000  per  day  (again  divided 
into  two  schools)  were  soon  reached.  This  was,  of 
course,   without   any  element   of  compulsion,  and 


i24     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

after  careful  precautions  had  been  taken  to  see 
that  no  child  who  had  any  chance  of  a  country 
holiday  should  be  admitted  to  the  school.  The 
parents  took  an  eager  interest  in  all  that  their 
children  reported  to  them  of  their  doings  there,  and 
every  year  the  Session  was  brought  to  an  end  by  an 
"Open  Day,"  on  which  the  parents  were  invited  to 
come  in  and  inspect  the  children's  handiwork  and 
to  watch  the  display  of  dancing,  drill,  acting,  and 
singing  with  which  the  school  concluded.  Many 
were  the  expressions  of  gratitude  and  appreciation 
that  we  heard  at  these  displays,  and  many  the 
hopes  that  the  school  would  come  again  next  year 
to  show  the  children  how  to  use  their  time.  Till 
now  it  has  been  possible  to  fulfil  these  hopes,  at  a 
cost  varying  from  ^150  to  ^350  per  annum,  but 
the  raising  of  this  money  is  a  considerable  additional 
item  in  Mrs.  Ward's  yearly  budget,  and  this  year  the 
necessary  rise  in  the  teachers'  salaries  has  meant  that 
only  half  the  number  of  children  can  be  catered  for  as 
compared  with  former  years.  It  is  really  an  anomaly 
that  Vacation  Schools  and  Organised  Playgrounds 
should  not  yet  be  included  in  the  purview  of  the 
Government  Grant,  and  we  hope  that  not  many 
months  will  pass  before  this  omission  is  remedied.1 

2.  Other  Vacation  Schools  in  London 

Two  years  after  the   opening  of   the   Vacation 
School  at  the  Passmore  Edwards  Settlement,  three 

1  For  a  detailed  account  of  the  working  of  the  Settlement  Vacation 
School  see  Appendix  III,  "  Mr.  Holland's  Report", 


VACATION  SCHOOLS  125 

or  four  other  "  holiday  schools "  sprang  up  in 
different  parts  of  London — partly  inspired  by  the 
success  of  our  experiment  and  partly  owing  their 
origin  to  the  example  of  America.  Of  these  the 
most  important  was  that  organised  by  the  Robert 
Browning  Settlement  in  the  heart  of  Walworth — 
that  dreary  region  to  the  south  of  the  river  which 
holds  the  unenviable  distinction  of  being  the  most 
densely  populated  borough  in  London.  The 
Warden  of  the  Settlement  had  long  wished  to  open 
a  Holiday  School  on  the  American  model  for  the 
children  of  this  squalid  district,  but  it  was  not  until 
1904  that  he  was  able  to  put  the  idea  into  practice. 
The  success  of  our  school  at  the  Passmore  Edwards 
Settlement  had  also  much  encouraged  him,  but  we 
cannot  claim  that  the  Browning  Settlement  School 
was  directly  inspired  by  ours.  In  any  case,  a 
Holiday  School  of  a  very  interesting  type  was 
opened  here  in  1904,  in  a  Council  School  close  by, 
and  since  the  principal  aim  of  those  who  work  in 
Walworth  is  to  get  the  children  out  of  it,  the 
scheme  included  from  the  beginning  a  series  of 
outings  by  tram  to  Tooting  Common.  Here  the 
children  found  themselves  for  the  first  time  in  a  bit 
of  real  country,  and  made  their  first  attempts  at 
Nature  Study.  The  thistle  they  promptly  named 
holly,  and  the  water-lilies  wild  rhubarb  !  The  daily 
average  of  children  who  attended  the  school  and 
shared  in  these  outings  was  231,  and  since  the 
school  was  run  for  four  years  entirely  by  volunteers 
the  total  cost  each  season  only  amounted  to  about 
£$0.     Then  in   1908  the  Ragged  School    Union 


126     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

gave  a  substantial  grant  towards  the  expenses  of  the 
school,  and  this  meant  that  the  whole  venture  could 
be  transformed  into  the  daily  transportation  of  300 
children  by  tramcar  to  Greenwich  Park,  where  they 
could  play  and  learn  and  have  their  dinner  on  the 
shady  grass — a  dinner  provided  also  by  the  Settle- 
ment fund.  For  these  were  the  days  of  increasing 
agitation  in  favour  of  free  meals  for  necessitous 
children,  when  the  London  County  Council  had 
not  yet  adopted  the  policy  of  "school  dinners,"  and 
the  Browning  Settlement,  which  took  a  foremost 
part  in  the  battle  for  the  children's  food,  was  glad 
to  be  able  to  provide  such  an  excellent  object-lesson 
in  the  value  of  even  two  or  three  weeks'  good  food 
to  the  half-starved  child.  In  the  next  year,  1909, 
the  battle  had  been  won,  and  the  300  necessitous 
children  had  lost  the  "  wolfish  hunger-look  "  *  that 
their  faces  had  always  borne  before  ;  but  still  the 
daily  expeditions  to  Greenwich  satisfied  still  deeper 
yearnings  in  their  little  souls.  This  "  almost  ideal  " 
Holiday  School,  as  the  L.C.C.  Inspector  named  it, 
subsisted  until  the  outbreak  of  war,  when  it  was 
found  impossible  to  carry  it  on  any  longer.  In  the 
opinion  of  the  Browning  Settlement  authorities  it  is 
now  the  part  of  the  London  County  Council  to 
follow  where  they  and  the  Passmore  Edwards 
Settlement  have  shown  the   way. 

In  this  same  first  year  of  the  "  Provision  of  Meals 
(Necessitous  Children)  Act,"  the  suggestion  was 
made  to  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward  by  Dr.   Niall  (one 

'See  "The  Central  City  Swarm,"  p.  156,  issued  by  the  Robert 
Browning  Settlement. 


VACATION  SCHOOLS  127 

of  the  Medical  Officers  to  the  L.C.C.)  that  the  Play 
Centres  Committee  should  endeavour  to  make 
some  provision  during  the  school  holidays  for  a 
small  number  of  "delicate  and  necessitous"  chil- 
dren in  a  typical  East  End  district.  Mrs.  Ward 
willingly  agreed  to  the  proposal ;  one  of  the  poorest 
and  most  crowded  parts  of  Hoxton  was  chosen  for 
the  experiment,  and  the  London  County  Council 
granted  the  use  of  the  airy  little  "  Mentally  Defective 
Centre"  at  Hoxton  House  School,  while  the  Care 
Committees  of  the  three  nearest  schools  were  all 
asked  to  recommend  a  certain  number  of  delicate 
children  from  their  lists,  who  would  be  the  most 
likely  to  benefit  by  a  month  of  wise  care  and  good 
feeding-.  Dr.  Niall  himself  examined  the  children 
and  selected  about  fifty  of  the  most  ill-nourished  ; 
the  Alexandra  Trust  served  the  dinners — an  excel- 
lent variety — and  two  kindergarten  teachers  and  a 
nurse  took  charge  of  the  children  for  the  whole  day 
and  gave  them  games  and  quiet  occupations  in  the 
shade  of  the  playground  trees.  By  the  end  of  the 
four  weeks  there  was  a  noticeable  improvement,  both 
physical  and  mental,  in  almost  every  child.  The 
careful  and  detailed  reports  sent  in  by  the  nurse  at 
the  close  of  the  school  showed  that  most  of  the 
children  increased  in  weight,  some  of  them  very 
considerably,  and  of  the  general  results  the  nurse 
wrote  :  "  There  is  no  doubt  in  my  mind  that  all  the 
children  have  derived  great  benefit  from  the  food, 
coupled  with  the  pleasant  and  happy  surroundings. 
Without  exception  they  became,  as  time  went  on, 
more  cheerful,  looked  brighter  and  stronger,  showed 


128     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

a  desire  to  be  clean  and  tidy  in  their  habits,  and 
were  much  improved  in  their  behaviour."  Thus 
the  deterioration  which  would  inevitably  have  set 
in  with  these  delicate  children  during  four  weeks  of 
street  life,  with  no  school  midday  meal  to  support 
them,  was  successfully  avoided,  and  the  children 
were  returned  to  school  instead  in  a  better  and 
stronger  condition  than  when  they  left  it. 

A  similar  enterprise,  but  without  the  midday 
meals,  was  carried  out  by  our  Committee  in  the 
Devons  Road  School,  Bow,  where  a  special  feature 
was  made  of  the  roof  playground  for  the  girls  and 
little  ones.  On  these  airy  heights  the  children  im- 
proved remarkably  in  health  and  looks  during  the 
summer  holiday  (1909),  while  the  bigger  boys 
played  cricket  and  other  games  in  the  playgrounds 
below  and  were  frequently  taken  on  expeditions  to 
Hampstead  Heath  and  Golders  Hill  ;  390  children 
daily  attended  this  Holiday  School,  at  a  total  cost 
for  the  four  weeks  of  ,£43. 

For  the  better  information  of  those  interested  in 
this  subject,  I  append  the  accounts  for  the  year  1909 
of  the  three  Vacation  Schools  held  under  the 
auspices  of  our  Committee  (see  opposite  page). 

In  the  next  year  (19 10)  the  London  County 
Council  itself  organised  six  Vacation  Schools  in 
different  parts  of  London,  which  proved  a  great 
boon  to  the  children  concerned.  An  average  of 
400  children  per  school  were  admitted,  and  the  ex- 
periment was  repeated  in  the  next  year  under  still 
better  conditions.  But  since  191 1  it  has  lapsed, 
and  we  do  not  know  whether  the  Education  Com- 


VACATION  SCHOOLS 


129 


mittee  intend,   now  that  normal  conditions  are  re- 
turning, to  revert  to  this  pre-war  enterprise. 


EXPENDITURE 

Passmore  Edwards 

Settlement 

Bow 

Hoxton 

Vacation  School 

School 

School 

(3  weeks) 

(4  weeks) 

(4  weeks) 

Av.  att.  1140. 

Av.  att.  390. 

Av.  att.  42. 

£   *.    d. 

£  s.  d. 

£    8.    d. 

30  12  10 

27     9     8 

Cleaning  and  caretaking     . 

1209 

— 

— 

Equipment 

43     5     5 

5    1    1 

6  14     G 

Expeditions  and  swimming 

1     4  n 

5   19     8 

— 

Printing  and  stationery 

5     8     9 

0    5     1 

— 

Postage  and  carriage 

481 

0   15     8 

0  15     9 

Provision  of  meals 

— 

— 

16   12     6 

— 

— 

760 

8  11  11 

052 

1     8     6 

£248  10  10 

£42  iq     6 

£60     6  11 

3.   Vacation  Schools  Outside  London 

I  regret  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  full 
information  concerning  the  many  efforts  to  provide 
organised  play  for  children  during  the  holidays  in 
the  other  great  towns,  but  I  should  be  sorry  not  to 
make  some  mention  of  the  Holiday  Playgrounds 
carried  on  for  many  years  by  Canon  Wilson  at 
Worcester,  of  the  organised  recreation  provided  in 
the  Parks  throughout  the  summer  by  the  Local 
Authorities  of  Sheffield  and  Bolton,  Lanes.,  and 
of  the  Vacation  Play  Centre  organised  by  the  An- 
coats  University  Settlement  (Manchester)  in  19 16. 
Before  the  war,  also,  the  City  Council  of  Manchester 
had  a  most  comprehensive  scheme  of  recreation 
under  "games  leaders"  in  the  City  Parks,  eleven 
playgrounds  being  organised  from  April  to  October. 


130     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

4.  Organised  Playgrounds 

When  Mrs.  Ward  paid  her  first  and  only  visit  to 
the  United  States  in  the  spring  of  1908,  she  heard 
much  of  the  admirable  work  carried  out  in  New 
York  during  the  summer  months  by  the  Playground 
Association  of  America  and  by  the  Public  Schools 
Athletic  League.  There  the  corporate  sense  of 
the  community  had  been  aroused  sooner  than  in 
these  islands  to  the  need  for  providing  wholesome 
recreation  during  the  long  hot  summer  weeks  for 
the  children  of  the  great  cities,  and  in  New  York 
alone,  in  the  summer  of  1907,  100  school  play- 
grounds had  been  equipped  and  opened  under  the 
supervision  of  the  City  Education  Authority  for  the 
swarming  and  polyglot  population  of  the  back 
streets.  Mr.  Jacob  Riis,  Honorary  Vice-President 
of  the  Playground  Association,  put  the  case  ad- 
mirably in  an  after-dinner  speech  during  Mrs.  Ward's 
visit  to  New  York.  "I  know,"  he  said,  "for  I 
have  been  a  boy  myself,  that  every  lad  is  a  little 
steam-boiler,  and  with  steam  always  up,  with  the 
same  potential  energy  as  the  steam-boiler,  and  with 
the  same  potential  perils.  A  steam-boiler  has  its 
safety-valve,  and  a  boy  has  his.  You  can  sit  on  the 
safety-valve  of  a  steam-boiler  if  you  choose,  but  you 
are  an  awful  fool  if  you  do.  But  what  else  is  it  we 
have  been  doing  until  quite  recently,  than  sitting  on 
the  safety-valve  of  the  boy  ?  The  boy's  safety- 
valve  is  his  play.  Sit  on  that,  hold  it  down  hard, 
and  you  will  have  trouble.  Give  him  the  gutter 
for  a  playground  and  nothing  else,  and  crime  will 


ORGANISED  PLAYGROUNDS  131 

come  as  a  matter  of  course."  Therefore  the  De- 
partment of  Education  of  the  City  of  New  York 
had  at  length  taken  the  advice  of  the  voluntary  as- 
sociations, had  organised  some  of  the  school  play- 
grounds and  a  section  of  the  public  parks  for  the 
children's  amusement,  and  were  so  convinced  of  the 
wisdom  of  this  policy  that  larger  and  larger  ap- 
propriations were  being  made  every  year  for  this 
purpose  from  the  city's  revenues.  The  Department 
had,  moreover,  grasped  and  acted  upon  the  funda- 
mental principle  that  mere  equipment  without  "  skil- 
ful and  loving  direction  "  is  useless,  a  sheer  waste  of 
public  funds.  "  Seward  Park,"  said  Dr.  Maxwell, 
the  City  Superintendent  of  Schools,  "  was  purchased 
and  equipped  at  enormous  expense  for  a  children's 
playground.  This  park  is  now  filled  at  all  hours  of 
the  day  and  evening  with  loafers  who  teach  boys 
and  girls  to  steal,  and  to  be  impure  ;  and  all  be- 
cause the  supervision  and  direction  are  inadequate. 
I  have  watched  for  a  whole  afternoon  a  poorly- 
equipped  afternoon  playground  run  by  the  Board 
of  Education  in  a  very  poor  location  ;  and  side  by 
side  the  magnificently  equipped  playground  in  the 
neighbouring  park.  The  former  was  crowded,  not- 
withstanding its  poor  equipment.  The  park  play- 
ground was  practically  empty.  Why?  Because  the 
vacation  playground  was  under  intelligent  direction 
and  the  park  playground  was  not.  Intelligent 
leadership  is  the  secret  of  successful  recreation,  as 
well  as  of  successful  work— so  deeply  laid  is  the 
law  of  imitation  in  human  nature." 

In    London,  as  my  readers  probably  know,  the 


i32     EVENING   PLAY  CENTRES   I  OR  CHILDREN 

school  playgrounds  are  mostly  thrown  open  during 
the  holidays,  but  nothing  is  done  to  attract  the  chil- 
dren to  use  them.  That  being  so,  they  are  for  the 
most  part  left  empty,  and  the  children  herd  in  the 
dull,  narrow  streets  or  the  dangerous  main  thorough- 
fares, and  London's  bill  for  accidents  and  petty  crime 
goes  up.  In  the  spring  of  191 1,  however,  Mrs. 
Ward  determined  that  some  effort  should  be  made 
to  do  for  London  what  was  so  abundantly  done  for 
New  York  ;  a  special  sub-committee  of  the  Even- 
ing Play  Centres  Committee  was  formed,  under 
the  Chairmanship  of  Mr.  C.  P.  Trevelyan,  then 
Under-Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Education  ;  a 
special  fund  was  raised,  and  a  scheme  laid  before 
the  London  County  Council  for  the  "  organisation  " 
of  fifty  playgrounds  during  the  summer  holidays — 
twenty-six  for  girls  and  infants  and  twenty-four  for 
boys.  The  Council  readily  accepted  the  scheme, 
and  assisted  it  by  the  loan  of  tables,  chairs,  benches, 
jumping-stands,  and  mats,  while  permission  was 
given  for  the  use  of  two  halls  in  each  school  if  wet 
weather  made  this  desirable. 

Twenty-six  schools  in  the  poorest  districts  of 
East,  North,  and  South  London  were  chosen  by 
the  Committee,  in  all  but  two  of  which  both  the 
boys'  and  girls'  playgrounds  were  used  ;  a  Games 
Master  was  carefully  selected  for  each  boys'  ground 
and  a  superintendent,  with  a  working-woman  from 
the  neighbourhood  to  assist  her,  for  each  girls' 
ground,  while  a  system  of  paid  monitors  was  in- 
stituted which  worked  very  successfully.  (The  pay 
was  only  is.  6d.  per  week  !)     The  superintendents 


ORGANISED  PLAYGROUNDS  133 

received  £2  a  week  each  and  the  working-woman 
1  os.,  while  an  extra  payment  of  7s.  6d.  a  week  was 
made  to  the  school-keepers  for  the  additional 
trouble  thrown  upon  them.  Three  daily  sessions 
were  held,  from  10.30  to  12,  from  2.30  to  4.30  and 
from  5.30  to  7,  and  the  children  were  informed  of 
the  scheme  before  the  end  of  the  school  term  by 
the  distribution  of  handbills  and  the  display  of 
posters.  Finally,  a  most  important  feature  of  the 
scheme  was  the  appointment  of  two  inspectors — 
Mr.  J.  E.  Yerbury  and  Miss  Elsie  Wilkes — who 
were  at  work  from  early  in  the  morning  till  late  at 
night,  visiting  every  school  under  them  frequently, 
attending  to  any  difficulty  that  might  arise,  arrang- 
ing swimming  parties,  keeping  up  the  stock  of 
games-material,  and  otherwise  dealing  with  the 
endless  details  on  which  the  smooth  running  of  the 
grounds  depended. 

The  playgrounds  were  an  immediate  success. 
"  Here  and  there,"  wrote  Mrs.  Ward  in  her  report 
to  "  The  Times "  after  the  close  of  the  experi- 
ment, "  they  were  almost  stormed  in  the  first 
days.  '  I  let  in  400  boys,'  wrote  a  superintendent 
after  his  first  session,  'and  the  street  outside 
seemed  still  black  with  boys.'  The  crowding  at 
the  gates  continued  to  give  trouble  in  some  cases, 
till,  with  the  help  of  the  ever-friendly  policeman, 
regular  double  lines  were  formed,  and  the  children 
came  in  without  difficulty,  and  without  any  crush- 
ing of  the  little  ones.  Inside  one  came  always  upon 
a  cheerful  scene.  In  the  girls'  playgrounds,  during 
those  hottest  August  days,  one  saw  crowds  of  girls 


•  34     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

and  babies  playing"  in  the  shade  of  the  school  build- 
ings, or  forming  happy  groups  for  reading  or  sewing, 
or  tilling  the  trestle  tables  under  the  shelters,  where 
were  picture-books  to  be  looked  at,  beads  to  thread, 
paints  and  paper  to  draw  with,  or  wool  for  knitting, 
or  portable  swings  where  the  elder  girls  could 
swing  the  little  ones  in  turn.  Then,  if  you  asked 
a  school-keeper  to  pass  you  through  a  locked  door, 
you  were  in  the  boys'  playground,  where  balls 
were  whizzing,  and  the  space  was  divided  up  by  a 
clever  superintendent  between  the  cricket  of  the 
bigger  boys — very  near,  often,  to  the  real  thing — 
and  the  first  efforts,  not  a  whit  less  energetic,  of  the 
younger  ones.  In  one  corner,  also,  there  would  be 
mats  and  jumping  stands,  in  another  a  group  play- 
ing tennis  with  a  chalked  line  instead  of  a  net, 
while  the  shelters  were  full,  as  in  the  girls'  grounds, 
of  all  kinds  of  quiet  occupations.  Management 
was  everything.  It  was  wonderful  what  a  superin- 
tendent with  a  real  turn  for  the  thing  could  make 
of  his  ground,  what  a  hold  he  got  upon  his  boys, 
and  how  well,  in  such  cases,  the  boys  behaved. 
There  was  a  real  loyalty  and  esprit  de  corps  in  these 
grounds  ;  and  when  in  the  last  week  '  sports  '  and 
displays  were  organised  for  the  benefit  of  the 
parents,  it  was  really  astonishing  to  see  with  what 
ease  a  competent  man  or  woman  could  handle  a 
crowded  playground,  how  eagerly  the  children 
obeyed,  how  courteous  and  happy  they  were. 

"  A  word  of  acknowledgment  also  must  be 
given  to  the  school-keepers,  the  majority  of  whom 
were   most   friendly  and   helpful.     And   as  to  the 


PEEPS    INI'u    A    PLAYGROUND 


ORGANISED  PLAYGROUNDS  135 

children,  one  saw  once  again  how  good  is  the  main 
stuff  out  of  which  this  nation  is  built,  and  one  was 
touched  once  again  with  the  tragic  sense  of  how 
much  still  remains  to  be  done  to  enable  these  docile, 
quick-minded,  affectionate,  and  often  wonderfully 
unselfish  boys  and  girls  of  school  age  to  pass  safely 
through  the  difficult  years  which  lie  between  them 
and  mature  life.  'The  devotion  of  the  elder 
children  to  the  younger  brothers  and  sisters,'  says 
Mr.  Yerbury,  '  is  very  striking  ;  and  I  was  most 
agreeably  surprised  to  find  this  not  only  in  the 
girls,  but  also  a  strongly  marked  characteristic  of 
the  boys.  The  behaviour  of  the  children  through- 
out the  month  has  been  as  nearly  perfect  as  possible 
in  the  circumstances.'  Here  and  there,  indeed, 
a  few  children  have  had  to  be  dismissed  or  ex- 
cluded ;  but  the  weekly  reports  of  the  superin- 
tendents to  the  chairman  amply  bear  out  Mr. 
Yerbury. 

"  To  return  to  figures.  We  reckon  that  about 
25,000  children  have  been  brought  within  the  range 
of  the  playgrounds,  many,  especially  of  the  girls 
and  little  ones,  attending  every  day  and  every 
session — five  days  a  week  and  five  hours  a  day. 
The  attendances  in  the  first  week  were  106,000. 
There  was  a  serious  drop  in  the  figures  of  the 
second  week,  owing  partly  to  Bank  Holiday,  when 
the  grounds  were  closed,  and  partly  to  the  strike. 
A  Bermondsey  superintendent  found  it  hard,  for 
instance,  to  cope  with  the  attractions  of  a  van  of 
sweets  and  jam,  overturned  in  a  street  near  by, 
where    the   children    swarmed    about   it    like   little 


136     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

wasps.  Or  in  Limehouse  or  Stepney,  a  superin- 
tendent admitting  her  children  would  suddenly  see 
the  whole  flock  take  to  its  heels  to  follow  a  strike 
procession.  But  even  with  Bank  Holiday  and  the 
strikes,  the  attendances  were  over  60,000  for  the 
second  week  ;  with  the  third  week  they  went  up 
with  a  bound,  and  the  fourth  week,  of  which  the 
complete  figures  are  not  yet  before  me,  has  probably 
been  the  best  of  any.  The  understanding  between 
the  superintendents  and  the  children  grew  steadily- 
more  complete  ;  the  discipline  and  organisation 
of  the  best  playgrounds  improved  every  day,  and 
the  'sports'  and  displays  for  parents  of  the  last 
week  were  in  many  cases  a  really  remarkable  sight. 
The  gratitude  of  the  mothers  for  the  help  given  to 
themselves  in  the  exhausting  heat,  and  for  the 
kindly  shepherding  which  their  children  found  in 
the  grounds,  was  often  pleasant  to  see  and  hear. 

"  The  cost  of  the  experiment  worked  out  at 
^981  17s.  Taking  the  attendances  during  the 
four  weeks  at  400,000  in  round  figures,  it  will  be 
seen  that  each  attendance  cost  a  fraction  more 
than  a  halfpenny.  Supposing  a  child  attended  five 
hours  a  day  and  five  days  a  week,  as  many  of  the 
girls  and  little  ones  did,  the  cost  of  providing  an 
individual  child  with  play,  occupations,  and  super- 
vision, for  the  four  weeks  of  August,  works  out  at 
a  little  more  than  2s.  6d.,  or  about  jhd.  a  week. 

"  It  is  by  no  means  claimed  that  this  first  experi- 
ment was  everywhere  perfection.  Those  who 
organised  it  have  learnt  a  great  deal  from  it  ;  and 
if   funds  permit,  and    the   County   Council    renew 


ORGANISED  PLAYGROUNDS  137 

their  support  another  year,  it  is  hoped  that  various 
improvements  may  be  made  in  the  arrangements. 

"  More  help,  for  instance,  might  be  given  to 
the  superintendents  of  the  more  crowded  grounds  ; 
string  hammocks  on  wooden  supports,  like  those 
of  the  portable  swings  which  have  been  such  a 
striking  success  this  year,  might  be  provided  for  the 
small  babies  to  sleep  in,  and  parked  in  a  shady 
corner  under  the  care  of  relays  of  elder  girls  ;  a 
couple  of  visiting  nurses  might  be  attached  to  the 
staff;  and  the  swimming  facilities  might  be  greatly 
extended.  And  possibly  a.  still  larger  number  of 
playgrounds  may  be  opened.  In  these  congested 
districts  of  working-class  London,  remote  often  from 
open  spaces,  with  nothing  but  the  narrow,  crowded, 
and  dangerous  streets  for  the  too  often  uncared- 
for  children  to  play  in — -or  loaf  in — from  morning 
till  night,  it  is  surely  an  absurdity  that  the  school 
playgrounds  with  which  these  regions  are  studded 
should  be  either  closed  or  empty  throughout  the 
holiday  weeks,  when  such  use  might  be  made  of 
them  as   I  have  attempted  to  describe." 

The  actual  attendances  in  this  first  year  were 
as  follows  :— 

1st  week  .  .  .  106,920  (700  sessions). 

2nd  week  .  .  .  60,921  (600  sessions). 

3rd  week  .  .  .  138,911  (750  sessions). 

4th  week  .  .  .  1 17,249  (740  sessions). 


Total  attendance  424,001  (2790  sessions). 

Average  weekly  attendance  for  the  four 

weeks     ......      105,001 


1^8     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

The  attendances  were  always  lowest  at  the  morn- 
ing session,  and  highest  at  the  afternoon  session. 

Taking  the  third  week  as  an  example,  the  total 
attendances  at  the  respective  sessions  were  as 
follows  : — 

Third  Week  Attendances 


MoRNiNG 

Aftkrnoos 

Evening 

Boys'  grounds 

11-593 

14:930 

12,772 

Girls'  grounds 

18,861 

28,569 

2  2,004 

Totals         30.454  43.499  34776 

So  hopeful  had  the  result  of  this  first  experiment 
in  Organised  Playgrounds  proved  that  the  London 
County  Council  decided  in  the  spring  of  the  next  year 
(191 2)  to  share  with  our  Committee  in  the  task  of 
organising  a  still  larger  number  in  the  August  holi- 
days.  Forty  playgrounds  were  opened  by  our 
Committee,  and  forty  by  the  L.C.C.  The  organi- 
sation of  those  under  our  Committee  was  in  main- 
ways  improved  upon,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  follow- 
ing extracts  from  Mrs.  Ward's  report  to  the  sub- 
scribers : — 

Playground  Staff.  —  Last  year's  experience  led 
the  Committee  to  the  conclusion  that  in  view  of  the 
large  attendances  which  might  again  this  vear  be 
expected,  it  would  add  very  much  to  the  efficiency 
of  the  grounds  if  each  superintendent  could  have 
a  trained  assistant.  It  was  therefore  decided  to 
engage  forty  assistants  from  among  Training 
College  students.  Last  year  the  boys'  superin- 
tendents had  the  assistance  of  monitors  only,  and 


ORGANISED  PLAYGROUNDS  139 

the  superintendents  of  the  girl's  grounds  had 
each  a  working-woman  and  monitors.  This  year 
each  boys'  superintendent  had  a  trained  assistant 
and  a  paid  monitor,  and  each  girls'  superintendent 
a  trained  assistant,  a  paid  monitor,  and,  in  some 
cases,  a  working-woman  helper  as  well.  The  extra 
cost  to  the  Fund  is  felt  to  have  been  fully  justified. 
The  Training"  College  students  did  excellent  ser- 
vice,  bringing  much  vigour  and  enthusiasm  to  the 
work,  and  adding  very  greatly  to  the  success  of 
this,  our  second  year's,  experiment.  The  Com- 
mittee are  greatly  indebted  to  one  of  their  members, 
Miss  Lloyd  Evans,  the  Principal  of  the  L.C.C. 
Fulham  Training  College,  for  the  very  great  trouble 
she  took  in  selecting  and  recommending  students 
from  her  College  for  the  work.  Their  knowledge 
of  singing  games  and  morris  dancing,  and  their 
training  in  many  forms  of  handwork,  made  them 
most  valuable  assistants,  and  they  on  their  side  will 
surely  have  gained  much  from  this  experience  in 
recreative  work.  In  two  cases,  specially  recom- 
mended students  were  appointed  superintendents, 
and  the  experiment  was  so  satisfactory  that  it  raises 
the  question  whether  it  might  not  be  possible  to 
staff  the  girls'  playgrounds,  at  any  rate,  entirely 
with  students  who  have  just  completed  their  train- 
ing, and  so  to  obviate  the  difficulty  of  employing 
teachers  who,  we  can  but  feel,  really  need  their  full 
month's  holiday.  But  this  could  only  be  satisfactory 
if  the  grounds  so  staffed  were  subject  to  almost 
daily  inspection  by  an  experienced  and  directing 
Inspector,  as  was  the  case  with  the  grounds  where 


140     EVENING   PLAY  CENTRES  I  OR  CHILDREN 

the  experiment  was  tried  by  the  Play  Centres  Com- 
mittee. 

The  assistants  in  the  boys'  grounds  made  it 
possible  to  give  the  boys  much  more  swimming  this 
year,  since  swimming  was  one  of  the  necessary 
qualifications  for  appointment.  Our  expenditure 
under  this  head  is  ^20  in  excess  of  last  year.  But 
we  hold  that  the  money  could  hardly  be  better 
spent.  The  superintendents  report  very  warmly 
of  the  good  work  done  by  their  assistants.  Per- 
haps we  may  here  mention  that  one  of  these  assist- 
ants, who  earned  for  himself  a  specially  good  report, 
as  a  schoolboy  attended  for  years  the  Play  Centre 
at  the  Passmore  Edwards  Settlement,  and  also  the 
Vacation  School  held  there  during-  the  August 
holidays. 

Visiting  Nurses. — A  new  feature  of  this  year's 
organisation  was  the  engagement  of  two  nurses, 
who  went  round  to  the  grounds  encouraging 
cleanliness  in  the  children,  excluding  any  who  in 
their  opinion  might  be  infectious,  attending  to  cuts, 
bruises,  sore  faces  and  hands,  treating  small  ail- 
ments, and  in  some  cases  giving  simple  talks  on 
hygiene  and  the  care  of  a  baby  to  groups  of  the 
elder  girls.  The  Committee  feel  that  useful  work 
was  done  in  this  direction,  but  it  was  at  first  some- 
what disturbing  to  find  that  in  some  districts  the 
children  took  fright  at  the  sight  of  the  nurse,  and 
evinced  an  unwillingness  to  come  into  the  ground 
so  long  as  she  was  there,  the  parents  also  in  some 
cases  objecting.  However,  this  attitude  towards 
them  did  not  last  long,  and  was  not  a  serious  diffi- 


ORGANISED  PLAYGROUNDS  141 

culty.  The  weekly  reports  from  the  nurses  show 
that  very  many  children  must  have  benefited  by 
their  care. 

Inspection  of  Grounds. — This  year,  instead  of 
having  two  Inspectors,  each  being  responsible  for 
certain  playgrounds,  the  Committee  placed  all  the 
grounds  under  the  inspection  of  Mr.  J.  E.  Yerbury, 
who  did  such  excellent  work  as  Inspector  last  year, 
and  appointed  as  his  assistant  Miss  L.  Gill,  an 
experienced  Play  Centre  superintendent.  The  ar- 
rangement proved  very  satisfactory.  The  Com- 
mittee feel  very  strongly  that  constant  inspection 
of  the  grounds  is  essential  to  their  success.  And 
the  Inspectors  must  be  Organising  Inspectors, 
ready  to  put  right  what  they  find  faulty  in  the 
organisation  of  a  ground  ;  to  determine  where  ad- 
ditional equipment  is  needed,  and  to  see  that  such 
equipment  is  provided  promptly.  The  superin- 
tendents, who  are  in  many  cases  quite  new  to  this 
particular  kind  of  work,  must  know  that  in  any 
case  of  difficulty  they  have  only  to  write  to  the 
Head  Inspector,  and  the  next  day  their  ground 
will  certainly  receive  a  visit  from  either  himself  or 
his  assistant. 

The  Inspectors  were  throughout  the  four  weeks 
in  close  and  continuous  touch  with  Mrs.  Ward,  as 
Chairman  of  the  Committee,  under  whose  direction 
they  acted. 

As  Chairman,  Mrs.  Ward  also  received  a  weekly 
report,  on  forms  specially  drawn  up  for  the  purpose, 
from  each  superintendent,  and  was  herself  able  to 
visit  the  grounds  and  judge  of  their  efficiency. 


142     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

The  grounds  were  also  under  the  inspection  of 
the  L.C.C. 

Admission  of  Children. — The  playgrounds  were 
open  to  any  children  who  liked  to  come  to  them. 
During  the  last  week  of  the  school  term  fifty  hand- 
bills, giving  times  of  opening,  etc.,  were  sent  to 
each  of  the  Head  Teachers  of  the  twenty-one 
schools,  with  the  request  that  they  might  be  distri- 
buted. The  Care  Committee  Organiser  of  each 
district  where  a  playground  was  to  be  organised 
was  notified  of  the  fact,  and  asked  to  make  it 
known  to  the  various  Care  Committees  under  her 
direction. 

Occupations. — For  the  Boys. — Cricket,  football, 
and  other  organised  games  ;  jumping  (stands  and 
mats  were  provided  by  the  L.C.C),  hoops,  and 
racing  ;  painting  and  drawing  ;  quiet  games,  such 
as  draughts,  dominoes,  picture  lotto,  "  Who 
knows?"  hoop-la,  throwing  the  ring,  etc.  ;  puzzles, 
bricks,  books,  and  toys  for  the  smaller  boys. 

From  all  the  grounds  parties  of  boys  were  taken 
to  the  nearest  swimming-baths.  Cricket  matches 
were  played  between  teams  from  the  different 
grounds,  and  several  matches  were  arranged  be- 
tween teams  from  the  playgrounds  under  the  Play 
Centres  Committee  and  from  those  organised  by 
the  L.C.C. 

For  the  Girls  and  Infants. — Singing-games, 
dancing,  skipping-games,  rounders,  ball  games  of 
all  kinds,  and  other  organised  games  ;  quiet  games, 
needlework  (especially  doll-dressing),  knitting,  raffia- 
work,  painting  and  drawing,  story-telling,   puzzles, 


■  JBW 


CORNERS   OF    A    PLAYGROUND 


ORGANISED  PLAYGROUNDS  143 

brick-building,  etc  ,  dolls,  toys,  and  picture-books. 
In  several  of  the  grounds  the  big  girls  did  good 
work  in  mending  their  clothes,  and  though  not  at- 
tracted by  the  idea  at  first,  became  really  interested 
in  it.  One  superintendent  writes :  "  I  had  much 
difficulty  in  starting  the  mending  corner  till  a  girl 
of  thirteen  came  with  a  big  bundle,  and  an  air  of 
determination.  I  made  her  '  Mending  Monitress,' 
and  put  her  in  charge  of  the  materials.  It  is  a 
huge  success  now,  and  she  exhibits  her  pupils  with 
great  pride."  And  one  of  the  boys'  superinten- 
dents writes  :  "Some  of  the  boys  have  been  mend- 
ing their  own  clothes,  and  replacing  missing  buttons, 
and  seem  to  take  great  interest  in  it  ". 

Trestle  tables  were  used  for  the  quiet  occupa- 
tions, which  were  for  the  most  part  carried  on 
under  the  shelters. 

Each  girls'  playground  was  provided  with  two 
simple  trestle-cots,  with  washable  slings,  in  which 
the  tiny  babies  were  put  to  sleep.  The  portable 
swings  for  the  small  children  under  five  were  very 
popular  again  this  year,  and  in  each  girls'  play- 
ground we  provided  a  stronger  swing  for  children 
up  to  the  age  of  eight  years.  These  were  a  source 
of  endless  delight. 

Attendances.- — In  spite  of  the  very  wet  weather 
during  August,  the  attendances  at  the  grounds 
were  higher  than  last  year,  the  average  daily  at- 
tendance per  ground  working  out  at  509,  as  com- 
pared with  446  in  19 1 1. 

The  total  attendance  at  the  forty  grounds  for  the 
four  weeks  was  386,957.     The  grounds  were  not 


i44     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  EOR  CHIEDREN 

open  on  Bank  Holiday.  As  last  year,  it  was  found 
that  the  afternoon  attendances  were  almost  invari- 
ably the  highest,  but  there  would  seem  to  have 
been  less  difference  between  the  morning  and  even- 
ing  attendances  than  last  year.  Probably  the 
coldness  of  the   evenings  would  account  for  this. 

On  the  last  day  the  afternoon  and  evening 
sessions  were  combined  at  the  grounds,  as  sports 
had  been  organised  for  the  boys,  and  little  displays 
of  singing-games,  dancing,  etc.,  for  the  girls,  to 
which  parents  were  invited. 

Cost  of  Play  grounds. — This  year,  though  the 
Committee  only  organised  forty  grounds  as  against 
fifty  last  year,  the  total  expenditure,  ^1051  15s.  yd., 
exceeded  that  of  191 1  by  ^69  18s.  yd.,  the  average 
cost  per  ground  working  out  at  ^26  5s.  io^-d.,  as 
against  £2^  10s.  1  id.  in  191 1. 

This  increase  in  the  cost  per  ground  is  mainly 
accounted  for  by  the  facts  that  this  year  (a)  the 
superintendent  in  each  ground  was  given  a  trained 
assistant ;  (b)  it  was  found  necessary  to  spend 
more  on  equipment  in  the  way  of  toys,  games,  etc., 
since  the  stock  last  year  was  not  really  adequate  in 
view  of  the  large  attendances  ;  (e)  two  visiting 
nurses  were  engaged  ;  and  (d)  it  was  decided  to 
send  many  more  children  to  the  swimming-baths, 
the  expenditure  on  swimming  this  year  being  ^20 
in  excess  of  that  in  191 1. 

"  Finally,  I  may  perhaps  give  my  own  verdict  that 
the  playgrounds  of  191 2,  so  far  as  those  managed 
by  the  Evening  Play  Centres  were  concerned — and 
I  regret  that  reasons  of  health  prevented  me  from 


ORGANISED  PLAYGROUNDS  145 

seeing  anything  of  the  grounds  managed  by  the 
L.C.C.,  which  I  was  most  anxious  to  do — were 
even  more  successful  than  those  of  191 1.  I  think 
I  saw  them  all  with  one  exception,  and  my  days  of 
visiting  were  to  me  the  pleasantest  of  the  week,  so 
evident  was  it  that  the  grounds  were  thoroughly 
used  and  appreciated,  and  the  children  happy. 
There  were  differences,  of  course.  Some  grounds 
were  not  so  well  managed  as  others  ;  some  super- 
intendents had  not  so  much  talent  as  others.  But 
in  general  the  level  was  high  ;  and  where  a  super- 
intendent was  new  or  lacking  in  resource,  the  ex- 
perience of  Mr.  Yerbury,  gained  the  preceding- 
year,  and  of  Miss  Gill,  who  has  been  for  some  years 
the  superintendent  of  one  of  our  largest  Play 
Centres,  was  often  most  valuable  in  setting  things 
right.  I  was  accompanied  on  several  occasions  by 
two  French  teachers,  who  had  already  made  a 
study  of  the  Vacation  School  in  Tavistock  Place, 
and  were  deeply  interested  in  the  playgrounds. 
One  was  the  Directress  of  the  Government  College 
for  Girls  at  Saintes,  and  the  other  was  the  head  of 
the  Girls'  Lycee  at  Bordeaux.  1  understand  that 
the  first,  Madame  Milice,  has  made  a  report  on 
what  she  saw  to  the  French  Ministry  of  Instruc- 
tion ;  and  the  second,  Mademoiselle  Charron,  tells 
me  that  it  is  hoped  to  start  Organised  Playgrounds 
next  summer  in  Bordeaux. 

"In  conclusion,  let  me  express  the  warm  thanks 

of  my  Committee,   first  to    those    officials   of  the 

Council  who  helped  us  in  our  work,  and  then — and 

chiefly — to    that    handful    of  generous  subscribers 

10 


146     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

who  made  it  possible  in  191 1,  and  again  in  191 2, 
to  show  London  what  could  be  done  to  use  the 
ordinary  school  playgrounds  during  the  holidays 
for  the  pleasure  and  benefit  of  London  children. 
The  experiment,  thanks  to  the  liberal-minded 
Education  Committee  of  the  L.C.C.,  who  watched 
it  carefully,  has  done  what  we  all  hoped  it  might 
do  ;  and  henceforth  we  rejoice  to  know  that 
Organised  Playgrounds  in  the  holiday  month  are 
to  be  a  recognised  part  of  the  Council's  educational 
work.  It  will  not  be  necessary,  therefore,  for  our 
Committee  to  undertake  them  again." 

So  far  Mrs.  Ward's  report,  but  alas,  the  con- 
fident hope  expressed  in  the  last  lines  has  not  been 
justified  by  events.  Although  we  believe  that  the 
forty  playgrounds  organised  by  the  London  County 
Council  had  been  very  largely  successful,  the  ex- 
periment was  not  repeated  in  the  next  or  in  suc- 
ceeding years,  and  the  playgrounds  of  London 
were  suffered  to  relapse  into  that  condition  of  use- 
lessness  and  sometimes  of  positive  danger  to  the 
children's  morals  from  which  our  efforts  in  191 1 
and  191 2  had  sought  to  rescue  them.  Is  it  not 
time  that  with  the  return  of  so  much  energetic 
material  into  the  teaching  profession,  after  the  five 
years'  hiatus  of  the  war,  the  Education  Authority 
of  London — nay,  of  the  great  towns  also — should 
set  itself  seriously  to  the  task  of  reclaiming  for  the 
use  of  the  children  these  many  acres  of  wasted 
ground  during  the  August  holidays  ? 


APPENDIX  1 

Hints  on  the  Establishment  and  Organisation  of  Play  Centres 
at  the  Present  Day 

The  foregoing  sketch  of  the  history  of  the  Play  Centre  move- 
ment has,  I  hope,  conveyed  in  a  general  way  the  principles  on 
which  the  existing  Centres  have  been  organised,  but  since  the 
whole  enterprise  was  experimental  it  has  of  necessity  passed 
through  various  phases,  and  it  may  be  well  to  state  here  in 
concise  form  the  results  to  which  our  twenty  years'  experience 
have  brought  us.  The  following  hints,  therefore,  are  issued 
for  the  guidance  of  Voluntary  Associations  and  Committees 
who  desire  to  take  advantage  of  the  Board  of  Education  Grant, 
and  to  enlist  the  help  of  their  Local  Education  Authority  in 
the  establishment  of  Play  Centres.  Where  the  Local  Education 
Authority  itself  opens  Play  Centres  the  procedure  would  be 
slightly  different,  but  the  scheme  of  organisation  would  probably 
remain  the  same  in  either  case. 

i.  In  the  first  instance  the  Committee  should  apply  to  the 
Board  of  Education,  Whitehall,  London,  for  the  Circular, 
Regulations,  and  Grant  Regulations  on  the  subject  of  Evening 
Play  Centres.  (For  the  convenience  of  readers,  however, 
we  print  the  Regulations  at  the  end  of  these  notes.  The 
Circular  or  Memorandum  appears  on  p.  55.) 

2.  London  Play  Centres. — Those  wishing  to  start  additional 
Play  Centres  in  London  are  recommended  to  apply  to  the 
Evening  Play  Centres  Committee,  Passmore  Edwards  Settle- 
ment, Tavistock  Place,  W.C.  1. 

3.  Play  Centres  Outside  London. — In  forming  a  Voluntary 
Association  or  Committee  for  the  starting  of  one  or  more 
Play  Centres,  it  is  of  course  desirable  that  the  Committee 
of  Management  should  include  representatives  of  the  leading 
organisations    concerned   with    the    care    of   children    in    the 

147 


i48     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

district — Care  Committees — School  Managers'  Committees — 
Juvenile  Organisations  Committees — Child  Welfare  Societies — 
Probation  Officers,  etc. — -together  with  some  Head  Teachers 
from  the  Elementary  Schools. 

Choice  of  School. — When  the  locality  which  most  needs  a 
Play  Centre  has  been  determined  upon,  the  schools  in  that 
locality  are  visited  with  a  view  to  deciding  which  is  best  suited 
for  the  purposes  of  a  Play  Centre.  It  is  important  that  the 
school  should  have  large  halls  and  good  playgrounds,  and 
that  it  should  be  well  lighted.  It  is  a  great  advantage  to 
choose  a  school  which  has  a  Manual  Training  Centre  attached 
to  it,  and  one,  if  possible,  with  gymnastic  apparatus  on  the 
ground  floor. 

Application  to  the  Education  Authority. — The  school  having 
been  chosen,  application  is  made  by  the  Committee  to  the 
Local  Education  Authority  for  the  loan  of  the  Infants'  Depart- 
ment, and  for  either  the  Boys'  or  the  Girls'  Hall,  for  five 
evenings  a  week,  from  5.30  p.m.  to  7.30  p.m.,  and  for  the 
use  of  a  hall  and  playgrounds  on  Saturday  mornings  for  the 
purposes  of  a  Play  Centre,  free  of  charges  for  rent,  cleaning, 
lighting,  and  heating.  Such  "  facilities  "  can  be  given  under 
the  Education  (Administrative  Provisions)  Act  of  1907. 

Application  is  also  made  for  the  use  of  the  Manual  Training 
Centre  on  one  or  two  evenings  in  the  week  for  Woodwork 
( 'lasses  for  the  elder  boys  attending  the  Play  Centre. 

Organisation  of  a  Centre. — The  Centre  is  organised  either 
as  a  two-session  or  a  one-session  Centre.  In  the  first  case, 
two  different  sets  of  children  attend  in  an  evening  for  an  hour 
each.  In  the  second,  only  one  set  of  children  attend,  but 
these  stay  for  the  whole  two  hours,  changing  occupations  at 
half-time.  It  will  easily  be  seen  that  a  much  larger  staff  is 
required  in  the  case  of  the  one-session  Centre,  if  the  same 
number  of  children  are  to  be  dealt  with  as  in  a  two-session 
Centre,  since  in  the  former  case  all  the  children  are  in  the 
school  building  at  the  same  time. 

In  some  Centres  the  boys  and  girls  attend  on  the  same 
nights,  and  in  others  on  different  nights.  But  in  all  cases  a 
certain  number  of  children,  both  boys  and  girls,  are  admitted 
to  the  Centres  every  night  in  the  week.  These  are  children 
specially  recommended  by  the  Care  Committees,  Children's 
Probation  Officers,  and  other  social  workers,  as  needing  the 


APPENDIX  I  149 

safe  shelter  and  happy  play  that  the  Centre  can  give  them, 
or  children  whose  need  has  become  apparent  to  the  Super- 
intendent of  the  Centre.  Otherwise,  the  children  normally 
attend  the  Centres  twice  or  three  times  a  week. 

Admission  of  Children. — When  a  Centre  is  first  started 
tickets  of  admission  stating  which  evenings  in  the  week,  and 
during  what  hours  the  children  can  attend,  are  sent  to  the 
head  teachers  of  the  school  where  the  Centre  is  to  be  held, 
and  of  three  or  four  other  schools  in  the  near  neighbourhood, 
who  are  asked  to  give  the  tickets  to  children  whose  need  they 
think  is  greatest.  A  Centre  generally  starts  with  a  roll  of  500 
to  800  children,  according  as  to  whether  it  is  organised  on  a 
one-session  or  a  two-session  basis.  This  roll  very  soon  increases, 
as  the  children  ask  leave  to  bring  brothers  and  sisters  and 
friends.  After  a  single  registration  of  name  and  address  all 
new  children  are  admitted  ireely,  so  long  as  space  permits, 
and  no  register  is  called  nor  are  badges  of  admission  given 
out.  But  a  careful  record  is  kept  of  the  numbers  in  attendance 
each  evening. 

Play  Centre  Occupations. — Musical  Drill,  Gymnastic,  Morris 
Dancing,  Singing-Games,  Organised  Games,  Woodwork,  Cobb- 
ling, Basket-work,  Needlework,  Rug-making,  Knitting,  Scrap- 
book-making,  Painting  and  Drawing,  Plasticine  Modelling, 
Reading,  Story-telling,  Quiet  Games,  Toys,  etc.,  etc. 

The  Centres  are  open  forty  weeks  in  the  year.  During  the 
summer  they  are  transferred  to  the  School  Playgrounds.  Chil- 
dren under  school  age  may  be  admitted  to  the  Playgrounds. 

Staff. — The  Play  Centre  is  under  the  direction  of  a  trained 
and  paid  superintendent — usually  an  experienced  social  worker, 
with  practical  knowledge  of  drill  and  games,  or  kindergarten 
work.  The  superintendent  has  a  staff  of  paid  workers,  and 
these  are  supplemented  by  voluntary  workers.  In  first  staffing 
a  Play  Centre  a  worker  is  allowed  for  each  forty  children. 
The  Cobbling,  Woodwork,  Basket-work,  and  Gymnastic  Classes 
cannot  take  as  many  as  forty  children  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
many  more  than  forty  can  be  taken  in  a  large  Hall  for  Singing- 
Games  or  Dancing,  or  in  a  Quiet  Games  Room,  so  that 
allowing  a  teacher  to  every  forty  children  usually  works  out 
well  in  practice. 

The  following  are  the  Regulations  issued  by  the  Board  of 
Education  ;— 


i5o     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

Regulations  for  Evening  Play  Centre 

{In  force  from  August  i,  191 7) 

1.  (a)  The  Board  of  Education  will  make  grants  during 
each  financial  year,  commencing  on  April  1,  in  aid  of  Evening 
Play  Centres,  hereinafter  called  Centres,  which  provide  after 
School  hours  and  on  Saturdays  for  the  recreation  and  physical 
welfare  under  adequate  supervision  of  children  attending 
Public  Elementary  Schools. 

(o)  The  grant  payable  in  a  financial  year  will  be  based  on 
the  work  done  and  the  payments  made  during  the  previous 
financial  year  except  that  the  grant  payable  in  the  financial 
year  commencing  on  April  1,  191 8,  will  be  based  on  the 
payments  made  during  the  eight  months  from  August  1,  191 7, 
to  March  31,  19 18. 

2.  (a)  Every  Centre  must  be  under  the  direction  of  some 
Body  of  Managers  which  the  Board  will  regard  as  responsible 
for  the  efficient  conduct  of  the  work  and  for  the  observance  of 
the  Regulations  and  to  which  they  will  pay  the  grant. 

(/')  Where  the  Body  of  Managers  is  not  the  Local  Education 
Authority,  a  person  must  be  appointed  to  act  as  Correspondent 
on  behalf  of  the  Managers  with  the  Board  or  with  the  Local 
Education  Authority. 

(/)  Where  the  Body  of  Managers  is  not  the  Local  Education 
Authority,  the  Board  will  not  pay  grants  to  the  Centre  if  it  is 
not  recognised  by  the  Authority  for  the  purposes  of  Section  13 
of  the  Education  (Administrative  Provisions)  Act,  1907,  and 
(unless  the  circumstances  are  exceptional)  if  it  is  not  aided  by 
the  Authority  either  by  placing  premises  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Body  of  Managers  free  of  any  charge  for  rent  and  for  heating, 
lighting,  and  cleaning,  or  in  some  other  manner. 

3.  Every  Centre  must  be  suitable  in  character  and  financial 
position  to  receive  aid  from  the  Board  and  must  not  be  con- 
ducted for  private  profit  or  farmed  out  to  any  member  of  the 
Staff. 

4.  The  premises  of  the  Centre,  unless  it  is  conducted  in  the 
premises  of  a  Public  Elementary  School,  must  be  approved  by 
the  Board  for  the  purpose.  They  must  be  sanitary,  convenient, 
safe  in  case  of  fire,  and  suitably  equipped.  In  fine  weather  on 
Saturdays  and  during  the  summer  months  as    much    use    as 


APPENDIX  I  151 

possible    should   be    made   of  playgrounds,  parks,  recreation 
grounds,  and  other  available  open  spaces. 

5.  (a)  There  must  be  a  Superintendent  for  every  Centre  who 
will  be  responsible  for  the  general  conduct,  supervision,  and 
discipline. 

(b)  The  Assistant  Staff  must  be  adequate  and  suitable. 

6.  (a)  Admission  to  the  Centre  must  be  limited  to  children 
attending  a  Public  Elementary  School. 

(b)  No  child  while  excluded  from  school  on  account  of 
infectious  illness  in  its  home  may  be  permitted  to  attend  the 
Centre. 

7.  The  Centre  should,  as  a  rule,  meet  on  not  less  than  three 
evenings  in  the  week  and  sixty  times  during  the  year.  Meetings 
should  be  of  not  less  than  i-j  hours  in  duration. 

8.  All  returns  called  for  by  the  Board  must  be  duly  made. 

9.  A  record  must  be  kept  of  the  number  of  children  in 
attendance  at  each  meeting. 

10.  The  Centre  must  be  open  at  all  reasonable  times  to 
inspection  by  the  Board  and  by  the  Local  Education  Authority. 
At  least  a  full  week's  notice  of  any  alteration  in  the  time  of 
meeting  of  the  Centre  or  of  its  temporary  closure  must  be  given 
to  the  Board's  Inspector. 

11.  Application  for  recognition  or  for  continuance  of  recog- 
nition of  the  Centre  must  be  made  to  the  Board  annually, 
through  the  Local  Education  Authority,  on  the  prescribed 
Form,  and  should  ordinarily  reach  the  Board  not  less  than 
a  month  before  the  date  on  which  the  Centre  opens. 

12.  (a)  Where,  in  the  Board's  opinion,  the  Centre  is  con- 
ducted efficiently  and  with  due  regard  to  economy,  grant  may 
be  paid  at  a  rate  not  exceeding  one-half  of  the  approved  ex- 
penditure on  maintenance. 

(b)  In  fixing  the  rate  of  grant  the  Board  will  take  into  con- 
sideration the  scope,  character,  and  efficiency  of  the  work.  In 
particular  the  Board  will  have  regard  to — ■ 

(i)  the  period  of  the  year  during  which  the  Centre  was 

open ; 
(ii)  the  number  and  length  of  the  meetings  held   during 

the  period ; 
(iii)  the  number  of  attendances  made  by  the  children  during 
the  period. 

13.  The    Board    may  disregard  any  items  of  expenditure 


i52     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

which,  in  their  opinion,  should  not  be  taken  into  account  for 
the  purpose  of  the  grant.  If  it  is  proposed  to  make  a  claim 
for  grant  in  respect  of  expenditure  on  rent  or  special  equip- 
ment, the  Board  should  be  informed  before  the  expenditure  is 
incurred. 

14.  When  the  work  of  a  Centre  has  been  completed  in  any 
year,  a  statement  in  a  prescribed  form  of  the  work  done  during 
the  year  should  be  forwarded  to  the  Board,  together  with  a 
statement  of  the  receipts  and  expenditure  for  the  year. 

15.  Payment  of  grant  is  subject  to  the  fulfilment  of  the 
conditions  laid  down  in  these  Regulations,  but  if  any  of  the 
conditions  have  not  been  fulfilled  the  Board  may  nevertheless, 
when  there  are  special  circumstances  which  would  justify  it, 
pay  such  grant  as  they  may  think  fit. 

16.  Grants  under  these  Regulations  must  be  applied  solely 
for  the  purposes  of  Play  Centres  recognised  by  the  Board.  If 
the  grant  payable  is  found  to  exceed  the  outstanding  liabilities, 
an  instalment  not  exceeding  the  outstanding  liabilities  may  be 
paid,  but  payment  will  not  be  completed  until  the  work  has 
been  resumed  in  the  next  session. 

17.  If  any  question  arises  as  to  the  interpretation  of  these 
Regulations,  the  decision  of  the  Board  shall  be  final. 

18.  The  Regulations  will  take  effect  from  August  i,  191  7. 
Given  under  the  Seal  of  the  Board  of  Education  the  27th 

day  of  August,  191  7. 

L.  A.  Si  i.i.y-Bigge. 


APPENDIX   II 

Some  Hall  and  Playground  Games  (Collected  by  Constance 
C.  Craig) 

Ball  Games 

i.  Circle  Ball. 

2.  Throw  the  Football. 

3.  Circular  Tunnel  Ball. 

4.  Ring  Ball. 

5.  Centre  Catch  Ball. 

6.  Corner  Ball. 

7.  Football  Tag. 

8.  Circle  Catch  Ball. 

9.  Squat  Ball. 

10.  Running  Catch  Ball. 

1 1.  Captain  or  American  Ball. 

12.  Chase  ball  in  two  parallel  lines. 

13.  Circle  Cricket. 

14.  Hand  Tennis. 

15.  Fungo. 

1.  Circle  Ball 

Apparatus. — Hand-ball,  basket-ball  or  bean  bag. 

Children  stand  in  circle  3  to  5  feet  apait.  The  ball  is 
tossed  rapiJly  from  one  player  to  another,  either  over  the 
heads  of  the  players  or  across  the  ring. 

Any  player  failing  to  catch  the  ball  must  at  once  sit  down. 
The  last  one  who  remains  standing  wins  the  game. 

The  game  can  then  be  played  sitting,  each  child  standing  up 
when  the  ball  is  uncaught,  and  the  last  one  left  sitting  wins 
the  game. 

For  very  little  children  the  space  between  the  players  should 

*53 


154      EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

be  less,  and  the  ball  tossed  in  regular  order  from  one  player  to 
the  next. 

2.  Throw  the  Football 

Apparatus. — A  football  or  large  ball. 

Children  sit  in  a  ring  on  the  floor,  "  tailor  "  fashion,  one  child 
stands  within  the  ring. 

Raising  both  hands  above  the  head  a  boy  in  the  circle 
throws  the  football  across  the  ring,  at  the  same  time  trying  to 
hit  the  boy  in  the  centre,  who  moves  about  quickly  in  order  to 
dodge  the  ball.  The  ball  continues  to  be  thrown  across  from 
player  to  player,  the  throwers  always  endeavouring  to  hit  the 
boy  in  the  ring.  When  the  boy  is  hit,  his  place  is  taken  by 
the  boy  who  threw  the  ball.  If  a  large  number  are  playing, 
two  or  more  boys  may  stand  within  the  ring. 

3.  Circular  Tunnel  Ball 

Apparatus. — A  football  or  large  ball. 

Boys  stand  in  a  ring  with  legs  wide  apart,  each  boy's  feet 
touching  those  of  the  boy's  next  to  him  on  either  side.  In 
this  way  a  succession  of  arches  are  made  round  the  ring. 

A  boy  stands  in  the  centre  and  endeavours  to  throw  the 
football  in  between  the  legs  of  any  boy  in  the  circle;  these 
boys  bend  over  and  try  to  stop,  with  their  hand-,  the  ball  from 
going  through,  and  bowl  it  back  to  the  thrower.  If  the 
thrower  succeeds  in  getting  the  ball  through  an  arch,  the  boy 
between  whose  legs  it  passed  is  compelled  to  take  his  place  in 
the  centre. 

4.  Ring  Ball 

A/para/us. — A  hand-ball. 

Children  take  sides  with  an  equal  number  on  each  side. 
Each  side  forms  a  ring,  the  children  standing  about  2  feet 
apart.  The  captain  of  each  side  stands  in  the  centre  of  his 
ring  and  throws  the  ball  to  each  member  of  his  side  in  turn 
who  throws  it  back  to  him.  If  a  child  fails  to  catch  the  ball 
he  must  pick  it  up,  return  to  his  place,  and  throw  it  back  to 
the  captain.  Whichever  side  completes  the  throwing  round  the 
ring  first  scores  a  point.  The  side  that  scores  the  greatest 
number  of  points  wins  the  game, 


APPENDIX  II  i55 

5.  Centre  Catch  Ball 

Apparatus. — Hand-ball  or  bean  bag. 

All  the  players  but  one  stand  in  a  circle  about  3  feet  apart. 

The  odd  player  stands  in  the  centre  of  the  circle. 

The  ball  is  tossed  rapidly  from  one  player  to  another  whilst 
the  player  in  the  centre  tries  to  catch  the  ball.  If  he  is  suc- 
cessful the  player  who  last  touched  the  ball  changes  places  with 
him,  and  so  the  game  continues. 

For  elder  children  the  game  can  be  made  more  difficult  by 
the  children  in  the  circle  standing  from  6  to  8  feet  apart  and 
the  ball  either  thrown  over  the  heads  of  one  another  or  across 
the  circle ;  the  centre  player  tries  either  to  catch  the  ball  or 
knock  it  on  to  the  floor.  If  successful,  he  changes  places  with 
the  last  thrower. 

6.  Corner    Ball 

Apparatus. — Basket-ball. 

The  ground  is  marked  off  into  a  space  about  25  feet  by  30 
feet.  This  is  divided  across  by  a  centre  line.  In  the  further 
corner  of  each  half  a  small  square  goal  is  marked  out.  Two 
goals  being  in  each  court. 

The  players  are  divided  into  two  equal  teams — each  team 
taking  up  the  position  in  its  own  court  and  placing  a  goal-man 
in  each  of  the  goals  in  the  opponent's  court. 

The  players  must  always  remain  in  their  own  court.  They 
place  themselves  in  various  positions,  and  always  take  care  to 
guard  well  each  of  the  goals  at  their  rear.  The  object  of  the 
game  is  to  throw  the  ball  over  the  heads  of  the  opposing  party 
to  one's  own  goal-men.  The  goal-men  may  not  step  outside 
their  goals.  The  ball  is  thrown  backwards  and  forwards  until 
one  goal-man  succeeds  in  catching  the  ball.  A  point  is  then 
scored  to  his  side  and  the  goal- man  throws  the  ball  back  to 
his  own  side. 

The  side  first  scoring  20  points  wins  the  game. 

7.  Football  Tag 

Apparatus. — A  football. 

At  the  start  of  the  game  each  boy  has  3  points.  The 
players  are  scattered  about  promiscuously  over  the  ground  or 


156      EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

hall.  One  player  starts  by  being  the  kicker — he  kicks  the  ball 
gently  towards  any  of  the  players,  the  idea  being  to  "  tag  "  one 
of  the  boys  with  the  ball.  The  pla\  ers  move  about  and  try  to 
avoid  being  touched  by  the  ball.  Anyone  tagged  by  the  ball 
loses  one  of  his  3  points  and  becomes  the  kicker.  If  anyone 
touches  the  ball  with  his  hands  or  kicks  higher  than  the  chest 
of  a  boy  he  loses  a  point.  Any  player  who  loses  3  points  is 
out  of  the  game.  The  boy  who  remains  longest  in  the  field 
wins  the  game. 

8.   Circi.k  Catch  Ball 

Apparatus. — Hand-ball. 

Children  form  a  circle.  One  child  stands  in  the  centre — he 
throws  the  ball  into  the  air  and  as  he  does  so  steps  back  a  pace 
and  calls  the  name  or  number  of  a  child  in  the  circle.  That 
child  immediately  runs  forward  and  catches  the  ball ;  if  he 
succeeds  he  returns  to  his  place  in  the  ring,  but  if  he  fails  he 
changes  places  with  the  thrower. 

9.  Squat  Ball 

Apparatus. — A  hand-ball. 

All  the  children  except  one  sit  in  a  circle,  "tailor"  fashion. 
Tire  odd  player  stands  in  the  circle. 

A  tennis-ball  is  rolled  quickly  across  the  floor  from  one 
player  to  another  whilst  the  odd  player  tries  to  secure  the  ball. 
If  successful  the  last  player  who  rolled  the  ball  takes  the 
place  of  the  centre  player. 

The  quicker  the  game  is  played  the  more  difficult  it  will  be 
for  the  centre  player  to  secure  the  ball. 

10.  Running  Catch  Ball 

Apparatus. — A  hand-ball. 

The  children  are  scattered  about  the  hall  or  playground  and 
throw  a  tennis-ball  from  one  to  another,  whilst  the  player  who 
is  chosen  to  be  "  IT  "  tries  to  tag  a  boy  who  holds  the  ball — 
or  to  get  a  hold  of  the  ball  itself.  If  the  boy  to  whom  the  ball 
is  thrown  fails  to  catch  it  he  must  try  to  pick  it  up  and  throw 
it  on  before  the  odd  man  gets  it.  The  place  of  the  odd  man  is 
taken  either  by  the  boy  who  is  tagged  when  in  possession  of 


APPENDIX  II  157 

the  ball  or  by  the  boy  who  fails  to  obtain  a  dropped  ball  before 
the  odd  man  gets  it. 


11.  Captain  or  American  Ball 

Apparatus. — A  football. 

The  playground  or  hall  is  divided  into  two  halves  by  a  line 
drawn  across  the  middle.  On  each  side  of  this  line  circles 
about  one  yard  in  diameter  are  drawn  down  the  sides  and  ends 
of  the  playground  or  hall  at  equal  distances  from  one  another. 
A  line  drawn  through  the  centres  of  these  circles  would  form 
an  ellipse.  The  circles  should  be  far  enough  apart  to  admit  of 
easy  and  accurate  passing  of  the  football  by  hand  from  one  to 
the  other. 

The  players  are  divided  into  two  teams,  each  team  consist- 
ing of  base-men,  guards,  and  a  fielder. 

The  base-men  of  one  side  stand  in  the  circles  on  one  side 
of  the  line  and  the  base-men  of  the  other  side  in  the  circles  on 
the  opposite  side  of  line. 

A  guardsman  of  each  side  stands  in  front  of  an  opponent 
base-man. 

The  two  fielders,  one  belonging  to  either  side,  stand  near 
the  centre,  one  on  either  side  of  the  dividing  line. 

One  of  the  base- men  of  each  side  is  captain.  The  two 
captains  stand  in  the  circles  at  either  ends  of  the  hall — opposite 
one  another. 

The  object  of  the  game  is  for  the  base-men  to  pass  the  ball 
to  their  own  captain  so  that  he  catches  it.  One  point  being 
scored  each  time  that  he  does  so. 

The  opposing  guardsmen  try  to  prevent  the  ball  passing  from 
one  base- man  to  another,  and  if  they  secure  the  ball  throw  it 
over  to  one  of  their  own  base- men  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  dividing  line. 

The  guardsmen  for  the  most  part  remain  near  the  base-men 
to  whom  they  are  assigned,  but  they  may  move  about  in  the 
immediate  neighbourhood  whilst  trying  to  seize  the  ball. 

Rules  to  be  observed : — 

1.  To  secure  possession  the  ball  must  be  held  in  both 
hands.  In  case  of  dispute  it  should  be  tossed  by  the  umpire 
between  the  contesting  pairs. 


158     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

2.  If  the  ball  goes  out  of  play  it  should  be  started  off  again 
in  the  centre  of  the  ground. 

3.  No  base-man  must  step  outside  his  circle  and  a  guards- 
man may  not  go  within  a  circle. 

4.  The  ball  must  not  be  snatched  or  pushed  from  an  op- 
ponent's hand. 

5.  No  player  must  run  with  the  ball  in  his  hands  and  the 
ball  must  not  be  kicked. 

6.  The  ball  must  be  thrown  from  one  player  to  another  and 
not  directly  passed. 

7.  The  ball  must  not  be  held  by  one  player  for  more  than 
three  seconds. 

If  any  of  these  rules  are  broken  the  opponents  are  allowed 
a  free  throw  from  one  of  their  base-men  to  their  captain  with- 
out interference  from  any  guard  except  the  one  in  front  of  the 
captain. 

The  game  is  started  by  the  umpire  tossing  the  ball  between 
the  two  fielders,  both  of  whom  try  to  catch  it  as  it  descends, 
the  successful  one  throws  it  to  a  base-man  on  his  side. 

The  work  of  the  fielders  is  also  to  retrieve  the  ball  when  it 
goes  out  of  play. 

i2.  Chase  Ball  in  Two  Parallel  Lines 

Apparatus. — Two  hand-balls. 

Children  line  up  in  double  file — open  ranks  in  two  paces 
and  face  one  another.  The  players  in  each  rank  should  stand 
arms'  length  apart. 

Each  rank  numbers  off — ones  facing  ones,  twos  facing  twos, 
and  so  on. 

At  the  given  signal  the  balls  are  tossed  obliquely  starting 
from  either  end  of  the  same  lines,  e.g.  if  30  players  are  taking 
part  in  the  game — that  is  15  a  side — 1  starts  by  throwing 
obliquely  to  2,  2  to  3,  and  so  on,  while  simultaneously  from  the 
other  end,  No.  15  in  the  same  line  as  the  1  starter  throws 
obliquely  to  14,  14  to  13,  and  so  on. 

When  the  two  balls  arrive  at  the  last  player  these  at  once 
return  them  in  the  reverse  order,  until  each  arrive  at  the  start- 
ing point.  The  team  whose  starter  first  receives  back  the  ball 
counts  one  point. 

If  the  ball  is  dropped  by  any  player,  he  must  recover  it 
and  return  to  his  place  before  throwing  to  next  player. 


APPENDIX  II  159 

13.  Circle  Cricket 

Apparatus. — A  tennis-ball  and  racquet  or  cricket-bat. 

Tne  players  stand  in  a  circle  of  about  8  to  10  yards  radius. 
The  players  stand  about  a  yard  apart. 

In  the  centre  a  small  circle,  about  2  feet  in  diameter  is 
made,  and  within  this  the  batter  stands  with  his  heels  together. 

The  ball,  in  the  first  place,  is  bowled  by  the  player  standing 
immediately  in  front  of  the  batter  in  the  outer  circle.  The 
object  is  to  hit  the  batter's  legs  with  the  ball.  The  ball  must 
be  bowled  underhand  or  not  higher  than  the  batter's  knees. 

The  batter  in  defending  and  hitting  back  the  ball  may  twist 
his  body  about,  but  must  not  move  his  heels. 

After  the  first  bowl  the  ball  is  bowled,  either  from  the  front, 
back,  or  side  of  the  batter,  by  the  fielder  nearest  it  after  a  hit 
has  been  made  or  a  ball  missed. 

The  batter  is  out — 

1.  If  hit  below  the  knees  by  a  bowler. 

2.  If  a  ball  that  has  been  hit  is  caught  by  a  boy  in  the  circle. 
The  place  of  the  batter  when  out  is  taken  by  the  boy  who 

bowled  or  by  the  one  who  caught  him  out. 

14.  Hand  Tennis 

Apparatus. — -A  tennis-ball. 

A  cord  is  stretched  across  the  playground,  or  a  section  of 
it,  about  4  or  5  feet  above  the  ground.  This  can  easily  be 
done  by  fastening  a  rope  to  basket-ball  posts.  The  players 
are  divided  into  two  equal  teams  and  each  team  re-divided 
into  three  squads.  Squad  A  stands  about  five  yards  from  the 
dividing  cord,  each  player  several  feet  apart,  Squad  B  stands 
a  few  yards  farther  back  and  Squad  C  still  farther  behind. 
Each  squad  should  have  its  own  dividing  line,  and  no  player 
go  beyond  his  line.  The  number  of  children  in  each  squad 
depends  upon  the  number  of  players. 

A  captain  for  each  team  is  chosen  and  stands  in  the  centre 
of  Squad  A.  A  tennis-ball  is  used  and  is  put  into  play  by 
the  captain  of  one  of  the  teams  bouncing  the  ball  on  the 
ground  and  striking  it  forward  with  the  hand  as  it  rises.  It 
must  always  go  over  the  cord  and  may  be  returned  by  the 
member  of  the  opposing  team  who  is  in  the  most  convenient 


160     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

position  to  receive  the  ball.     The  ball  may  be  struck  either 
before  it  touches  the  ground  or  after  it  has  bounced  once. 

A  point  is  scored  by  the  opposing  team — 

i .  If  the  ball  is  not  returned  over  the  cord. 

2.  If  the  server  fails  to  hit  the  ball  over  the  cord  when 
serving. 

3.  If  a  ball  is  hit  out  of  bounds. 

4.  If  the  ball  hits  a  player. 

Before  starting  the  games  the  number  of  points  to  be 
scored  for  each  game  should  be  fixed.  Twenty  points  to  a 
game  is  a  convenient  number. 

15.  Fungo 

Apparatus. — A  tennis-ball  and  a  bat. 

This  game  is  a  form  of  cricket  and  for  quite  small  boys 
will  probably  be  enjoyed  more  than  ordinary  cricket,  as  it 
does  not  necessitate  the  long  waiting  about  for  an  innings 
and  it  also  brings  more  keenness  into  the  fielding. 

A  single  wicket  is  used  and  a  covered  tennis-ball.  One 
player  is  chosen  as  first  batter  and  one  as  first  bowler,  the 
rest  are  fielders. 

Runs  are  scored  by  each  player. 

Whoever  "catches"  a  hit  ball,  or  stops  three  balls  hit  by 
the  batter,  or  hils  the  wicket  whilst  the  batter  is  taking  a  run 
becomes  next  batter  and  the  out-coming  batter  takes  the  place 
of  the  bowler. 


Running  and  Catching  Gamks 

16.  Cross  Tag. 

1  7.   Snatch  the  Handkerchief. 

18.  Prisoners'  Base. 

1 9.  Japanese  Tag. 

20.  Squirrels  in  Trees. 

21.  Come  Over  the  Line. 
32.  Last  Pair. 

23.  Race  Game  with  Hoops. 

24.  Birds,  Beasts,  and  Fishes. 

25.  Hopping  Bases. 

26.  Flag  Race. 


APPENDIX  II  161 

1 6.  Cross  Tag 

One  player  is  chosen  as  chaser.  He  begins  by  calling  out 
the  name  of  another  player  and  at  once  gives  chase.  A  third 
player  may  run  in  between  these  two,  whereupon  he  becomes 
the  one  to  be  chased.  These  two  are  again  crossed  by  another 
player  who  then  becomes  the  one  to  be  pursued.  And  so 
whenever  a  player  crosses  between  the  chaser  and  the  chased 
he  becomes  the  one  who  is  chased.  Whenever  a  chaser 
catches  a  boy  that  boy  becomes  the  chaser,  and  again  starts 
by  calling  the  name  of  a  player  to  be  tagged. 

17.  Snatch  the  Handkerchief 

Apparatus. — A  club,  handkerchief,  or  bean  bag. 

Children  take  sides — equal  numbers  on  each  side. 

Two  parallel  lines  are  marked  off  on  the  floor  about  24  yards 
apart. 

Each  side  stands  with  toes  to  line. 

A  club  or  block  of  wood  with  handkerchief  or  bean  bag  on 
top  is  placed  in  centre  midway  between  each  side. 

The  boys  are  then  numbered  off,  one  side  taking  the  odd 
numbers  and  the  other  side  the  even,  1,  3,  5,  7,  9,  etc.,  on 
one  side,  2,  4,  6,  8,  10,  etc.,  on  other  side  ;  1  stands  opposite  10, 
3  opposite  8,  and  so  on.  At  the  word  "  GO  "  the  end  boys 
Of  either  side  (1  and  10)  run  forward,  each  trying  to  pick 
up  the  handkerchief  and  return  with  it  to  his  place,  before 
being  touched  by  the  other  boy.  If  the  boy  is  caught  he 
stands  behind  the  other  side  and  is  a  prisoner. 

Next  players  3  and  8  run  for  the  handkerchief,  and  so  on 
till  all  have  run. 

The  side  securing  the  most  prisoners  wins  the  game. 

18.  Prisoners'  Base 

The  ground  or  hall  floor  is  divided  into  two  equal  parts 
with  a  small  base  or  prison  marked  off  at  the  farther  end  of 
each  division. 

Equal  numbers  of  players  are  on  each  side  of  the  middle 

line.     If  they  venture  over  the  line    into  the  enemy's  camp 

and  are  caught,  they  are  put  into  the  prison  where  they  must 

remain  until  tagged  by  one  of  their  own  side.     Both  prisoner 

1 1 


1 62      EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

and  rescuer  may  be  tagged  and  brought  back  into  the  prison 
before  reaching  their  own  side. 

The  game  is  won  by  the  side  which  has  taken  prisoners  the 
whole  of  the  enemy's  men,  or  when  a  free  man  enters  the 
enemy's  prison  when  it  is  empty  of  prisoners. 

19.  Japanese  Tag 

One  player  is  chosen  to  be  chaser,  his  object  is  to  tag 
any  of  the  players.  The  player  who  is  tagged  then  becomes 
the  chaser,  b  t  whenever  a  player  is  tagged  or  touched,  he  must 
place  his  left  hand  on  the  spot  touched,  whatever  part  of 
his  body  it  may  be,  and  in  that  position  must  chase  the  other 
players.  He  is  only  relieved  of  this  position  when  he  has 
tagged  some  one  else. 

20.  Squirrels  in  Trees 

Most  of  the  players  stand  in  groups  of  three,  placing  their 
hands  on  the  others'  shoulders.  This  represents  hollow  trees. 
One  child  stands  in  each  of  these  hollow  trees  and  represents 
the  squirrel.  There  is  al*o  an  odd  squirrel  without  a  tree. 
When  the  leader  claps  his  hands  all  the  squirrels  must  change 
trees,  and  whilst  doing  so  the  odd  squirrel  tries  to  secure  an 
empty  tree — if  he  does  so  the  one  who  is  left  out  becomes 
the  odd  squirrel. 

21.  Come  Over  the  Line 

The  playground  or  hall  is  marked  off  into  three  sections 
by  two  lines — the  middle  space  being  the  largest.  The  child 
who  is  catcher  stands  in  the  middle  space,  the  rest  of  the 
children  stand  in  either  of  the  outer  spaces.  These  children 
run  across  from  one  outer  space  to  the  other,  while  the  catcher 
endeavours  to  catch  anyone  who  comes  into  the  middle  space. 
Whoever  is  tagged  joins  hands  with  the  catcher,  and  the  two 
proceed  to  catch  the  others.  Each  one  as  he  is  tagged  joins 
hands  with  the  other  tagged  ones — and  so  the  game  proceeds 
until  all  are  caught.  No  one  can  be  caught  if  the  tag  line  is 
broken.  The  last  one  tagged  becomes  the  first  catcher  in  the 
next  game. 


APPENDIX  II  163 

22.  Last  Pair 

The  children  are  arranged  in  pairs,  all  facing  the  same  way. 
One  child  stands  at  the  head  of  the  line  facing  the  same  way. 
When  he  calls  out  "  Last  Pair  Go  "  the  last  couple  in  the  line 
run  forward  towards  the  front  on  opposite  sides  of  the  line  and 
try  to  join  hands  beyond  the  catcher  without  being  tagged. 
If  one  is  tagged  he  becomes  the  catcher,  and  the  previous 
catcher  and  the  uncaught  child  stand  as  the  first  ;,air  in  the 
line.  If  the  runners  succeed  in  joining  hands  without  being 
tagged  the  same  catcher  must  try  again  with  the  next  pair. 

23.  Race  Games  with  Hoops 

Apparatus. — Some  hoops. 

1.  Ordinary  flat  racing,  either  bowling  with  right  hand  or  with 
left  hand. 

2.  Obstacle  racing — between  stones,  round  posts,  etc. 

3.  Forward  and  backward  skipping  with  hoops  from  starting 
point  to  goal. 

4.  Slow  racing — last  man  in  wins,  but  hoop  must  not  fall 
to  the  ground. 

5.  Bowling  with  hand  only. 

6.  Bowlers  remain  stationary,  the  bowler  who  sends  the 
hoop  the  longest  distance  wins. 

24.  Birds,  Beasts,  and  Fishes 

Children  divide  up  into  two  equal  sides. 

Each  side  stands  in  line  about  3  yards  behind  their 
boundary  line,  the  boundary  lines  being  made  by  a  chalk 
line  drawn  across  either  end  of  the  hall  or  playground.  One 
side  after  choosing  the  name  of  a  bird,  beast,  or  fish  walks  across 
to  the  opponents'  boundary  line,  and  after  standing  and  toeing 
the  line  the  captain  gives  the  first  letter  of  the  word  chosen, 
i.e.  if  the  bird  "  sparrow "  is  chosen  the  captain  calls  out 
"A  bird  beginning  with  'S'";  the  opposing  side  try  to  guess 
the  name  of  the  bird.  As  soon  as  the  correct  answer  is  given 
the  children  who  have  given  the  word  run  back  and  try  to  get 
beyond  their  own  boundary  line  before  they  are  caught  by  the 
other  side  who  chase  after  them.  Anyone  caught  is  taken 
back  to  the  chasing  side.  The  chasing  side  may  not  go  beyond 
the  opponents'  boundary  line ;  if  anyone  does  so  he  can   be 


1 64      EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

tagged  by  the  other  side  and  is  taken  as  one  of  them.  The 
second  side  now  choose  a  word  and  come  across  to  the 
boundary  line  of  the  first  side  and  so  the  game  proceeds. 

If  a  side  after  a  given  time  fails  to  guess  the  word,  the 
word  is  told  by  the  captain  of  the  choosing  side,  and  his  side 
immediately  run  back  to  their  own  boundary  and  are  chased 
by  the  opponents  as  before — but  in  this  case  the  choosing  side 
are  again  allowed  to  choose  another  word.  At  the  end  of  a 
given  time  the  side  that  has  the  largest  number  of  children  wins 
the  game. 

25.  Hopping  Bases 

Two  bases  are  marked  off  some  20  yards  apart. 

All  the  children  except  one  assemble  in  one  of  the  bases. 
The  odd  one  stands  in  the  centre  mid-way  between  the  two 
bases.  The  game  is  started  by  all  the  players  hopping  on  one 
leg  to  the  other  base  whilst  the  odd  man,  also  hopping,  tries  to 
tag  any  of  the  players  before  they  reach  the  opposite  base. 
The  ones  tagged  become  the  prisoners  and  help  the  odd  man 
to  tag  the  other  players.  Any  player  who  touches  the  ground 
with  both  feet  also  becomes  a  prisoner.  No  player  must  make 
the  return  journey  to  the  first  base  until  all  have  crossed  over 
or  have  been  made  prisoners. 

26.  Flag  Race 

Apparatus. — Some  flags  or  bean  bags. 

A  starting  line  is  marked  across  the  middle  of  the  hall  or 
playground. 

The  children  are  divided  into  teams. 

The  leader  of  each  team  stands  with  toes  to  the  starting 
line  and  the  members  of  each  team  stand  behind  their  leader, 
about  2  feet  apart.     Each  team  should  be  3  or  4  yards  ap.irt. 

On  the  boundary  line  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  hall  or  play- 
ground a  child  should  stand  facing  each  team  ;  if  there  are  six 
teams  six  children  should  be  standing  on  this  line  in  a  straight 
line  with  each  team. 

The  leader  of  each  team  holds  a  flag,  each  group  having 
its  own  colour. 

(Flags  can  easily  be  made  by  pasting  coloured  paper  on  to 
sticks,  or  bean  bags  may  be  used  instead  of  flags.) 


APPENDIX  II  165 

At  a  given  signal  No.  1  in  each  team  runs  or  hops  to  the 
other  end  of  the  ground,  round  the  child  who  is  standing  there, 
and  back  to  their  own  starting  point.  In  the  meantime  the 
children  in  every  team  have  taken  a  step  forward,  so  that  2's 
are  now  at  the  starting  line.  The  flags  are  handed  to  the  2's 
who  immediately  run  forward  as  did  the  i's,  and  the  i's  take 
the  places  of  the  last  children  in  each  team  ;  3's  are  next  at 
the  starting  line,  and  so  the  race  continues  until  all  have  raced. 
The  winners  are  those  whose  last  runner  is  first  back  at  the 
starting  line. 

Miscellaneous  Games 

27.  Target  Toss. 

28.  Animal  Blind-man's  Buff. 

29.  Pull  over  the  Club. 

30.  Stations. 

31.  Magic  Music. 

32.  Pull  the  Rope. 
23.  Cockfight. 

34.  Cat  and  Mouse  (Blindfolded). 

35.  Find  the  Ring. 

36.  Jack  be  Nimble. 

37.  Knights. 

38.  Clumps. 

27.  Target  Toss 

Apparatus. — Three  bean  bags. 

Three  concentric  circles  are  drawn  on  the  floor.  For  small 
children  the  inner  circle  should  be  about  2  feet  in  diameter,  the 
next  4  feet,  and  the  outer  one  6  feet. 

For  older  children  the  circles  should  be  smaller. 

From  10  to  30  feet  from  the  outer  rim  of  the  largest  circle 
a  line  should  be  drawn  which  represents  the  throwing  line. 

Toeing  the  line  each  player,  in  turn,  throws  in  succession 
the  three  bags  towards  the  target.  If  a  bag  lands  within  the 
centre  circle,  the  player  counts  3  ;  if  between  the  centre  circle 
and  the  next,  the  count  is  2  ;  and  if  between  the  middle  and 
largest  circle,  the  count  is  1. 

A  bag  landing  on  the  line  does  not  count  at  all. 

The  player  wins  who  has  the  highest  score  in  five  rounds 
of  the  game. 


1 66      EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

28.  Animal  Blind-man's  Buff 

Children  stand  in  circle  holding  hands.  One  child  in  the 
centre  is  blindfolded  with  stick  in  hand. 

Children  in  circle  dance  round  until  blind  man  taps  three 
times  on  the  floor  with  his  stick.  Then  all  the  children  stand 
still. 

The  blind  man  then  points  to  one  child  in  the  circle  who 
at  once  grasps  the  stick.  This  player  is  told  by  the  blind  man 
to  imitate  the  noise  of  a  cat,  dog,  donkey,  duck,  or  some 
other  animal.  This  he  does,  and  if  the  blind  man  guesses  the 
name  of  the  child,  that  child  takes  his  place  in  the  centre.  If 
he  is  unsuccessful,  the  game  continues  with  the  same  blind 
man. 

29.  Pull  over  the  Club 

The  children  form  a  ring  taking  hands.  An  Indian  club 
about  18  or  24  inches  high  is  placed  in  the  centre. 

The  children  move  round  in  a  circle  and  each  child  tries  by 
pulling  or  forcing  to  make  one  of  his  fellows  knock  over  the 
club,  while  the  object  of  each  one  is  carefully  to  avoid  doing 
so  by  twisting  about  or  leaping  over  the  club. 

The  player  who  knocks  down  the  club  or  breaks  the  ring 
by  letting  go  hands  must  drop  out  of  the  ring. 

The  game  continues  until  the  last  boy  remains.  He  is  the 
winner. 

If  there  are  many  players,  they  can  be  divided  up  into 
several  groups,  each  group  forming  a  small  circle. 

30.  Stations 

Children  stand  in  a  circle  or  square  formation.  Each  child 
is  given  the  name  of  a  town  which  he  represents. 

One  boy  or  girl  is  blindfolded  and  stands  in  the  middle  of 
the  circle  or  square.  Another  child  represents  the  station- 
master.  He  stands  outside  the  formation  and  calls  out  the 
names  of  two  towns.  The  children  representing  these  towns 
change  places  and,  whilst  they  are  doing  so,  the  blindfolded 
man  tries  to  catch  one  of  them.  If  he  does  so,  that  one  takes 
his  place  as  blind  man.  If  he  is  not  successful,  two  other 
names  are  called  out. 

This  game  may  also  be  played  in  two  parallel  lines'  formation, 
the  lines  standing  about  12  feet  apart. 


APPENDIX  II  167 


31.  Magic  Music 

Children  sit  in  a  ring  on  the  floor :  one  child  goes  out  of 
the  room  whilst  a  thimble  or  some  small  article  is  hidden 
about  the  person  of  one  of  the  sitting  children. 

The  seeker  is  called  in  and  music  is  played,  or  the  children 
may  sing  some  well-known  and  familiar  song.  As  the  seeker 
nears  the  object,  the  music  becomes  softer  and  softer  until  the 
object  is  found ;  the  farther  he  gets  away  from  it  the  louder 
is  the  music. 


32.  Pull  the  Rope 

Apparatus. — A  rope  and  a  bean  bag. 

A  rope  4  yards  long  is  tied  at  the  ends  to  form  a  circle. 

Boys  take  sides — equal  numbers  on  each  side. 

Two  boys  from  each  side  grasp  the  rope  with  right  hand 
standing  so  as  to  form  a  square,  the  sides  of  which  will  be  1 
yard.     The  boys  on  the  same  side  stand  opposite  one  another. 

A  bean  bag  is  placed  a  yard  away  from  each  boy  outside 
the  square. 

At  the  signal  "GO  "  they  all  pull  strenuously  with  the  right 
hand  and  try  to  pick  up  the  bean  bag  which  is  near  to  them. 
The  boy  who  first  picks  it  up  falls  out  and  another  boy  from 
his  side  takes  his  place.  The  side  who  first  uses  up  all  their 
players  wins  the  game. 


33.  Cockfight 

Apparatus. — Some  stout  sticks  about  2  ft.  6  in.  long. 

Equal  sides  are  chosen,  and  form  parallel  lines  down  either 
side  of  the  hall,  the  opponents  standing  opposite  one  an- 
other— as  equally  matched  in  size  and  strength  as  possible. 
The  opponents  in  turn  take  their  places  in  the  centre  of  the 
room.  The  two  players  place  a  stick  under  their  knees,  the 
arms  under  the  stick  and  the  hands  clasped  in  front  of  the 
knees.  Each  then  endeavours  to  tip  the  opponent  over.  The 
winning  boy  counts  one  point  to  his  side.  When  all  the 
players  have  contested,  the  side  which  scores  the  most  points 
wins. 


r6S      EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

34.  Cat  and  Mouse  (Blindfolded) 

All  the  children  except  two  form  two  lines  facing  each  other. 
The  two  odd  players  represent  the  cat  and  mouse.  They  are 
both  blindfolded.  The  cat  mews  and  the  mouse  squeaks  and 
in  this  way  the  cat  tries  to  catch  the  mouse.  When  caught 
two  other  children  are  chosen  to  be  cat  and  mouse. 

35.  Find  the  Ring 

Apparatus. — Some  string  and  a  ring. 

All  the  players  except  one  stand  or  sit  in  a  ring.  The  odd 
player  stands  in  the  centre. 

A  long  piece  of  string  tied  at  the  ends  so  as  to  form  a 
circle  large  enough  to  reach  round  has  on  it  a  small  ring. 

The  players  pass  the  ring  from  one  to  another  whilst  the 
centre  player  tries  to  detect  who  has  it.  In  order  to  deceive 
the  guesser  the  players  make  passes  to  indicate  the  passage  of 
the  ring  even  if  it  is  not  in  their  vicinity. 

When  the  player  in  the  centre  thinks  he  knows  who  has  the 
ring  he  cries  "Stop"  and  immediately  all  movement  must 
cease. 

He  then  calls  upon  that  player  to  remove  his  hands  from 
the  string.  If  his  guess  is  right  that  player  takes  the  place  of 
the  odd  man.  If  incorrect,  the  ring  continues  to  be  passed, 
the  same  player  remaining  in  the  centre  until  the  right  guess 
has  been  made. 

36.  Jack  be  Nimble 

A  game  for  very  little  children. 

At  intervals  of  a  few  yards  round  the  hall  the  children  build 
with  their  bricks  candlesticks.  This  is  done  by  placing  bricks 
one  on  top  of  the  other  to  the  height  of  six  or  eight  inches. 

The  players  run  in  single  file  and  jump  with  both  feet  at 
once  over  the  candlestick,  while  all  repeat  the  old  rhyme — 

"  Jack  be  nimble 

Jack  be  quick 

And  Jack  jump  over  the  candlestick." 

About  six  or  eight  children  at  a  time  should  be  chosen  to 
complete  the  circle  of  jumping. 


APPENDIX  II  169 

37.  Knights 

Sides  are  chosen.  The  stronger  boys  of  each  side  are 
chosen  to  be  the  horses  and  the  smaller  boys  the  knights. 
When  all  are  mounted  a  signal  is  given  and  the  opposing 
teams  advance  to  meet  one  another. 

The  knights  of  one  party  try  to  unseat  the  knights  of  the 
other. 

When  a  knight  is  off  his  horse  he  is  out  of  the  game. 

The  side  who  unseats  all  its  opponents  wins  the  game. 

38.  Clumps 

Sides  are  chosen  and  a  captain  for  each  side. 

Each  captain  sends  a  player  out  of  the  room.  The  rest  of 
the  players  sit  on  the  floor  in  two  rings — the  players  of  one  side 
forming  one  ring  and  the  players  of  the  other  forming  another 
ring  at  the  other  end  of  the  hall.  The  players  of  each  ring 
should  sit  closely  together  and  speak  softly  so  as  not  to  be 
heard  by  the  opposing  side.  The  two  players  who  have  gone 
outside  the  hall  agree  upon  some  person  or  object  to  be 
guessed  by  the  rest  of  the  players.  They  then  return  and 
each  sits  with  the  players  of  the  opposing  side.  Each  side 
asks  questions  in  order  to  find  out  the  object  to  be  guessed. 
These  questions  may  only  be  answered  by  "  Yes"  or  "No"  or 
"  I  do  not  know  ". 

The  side  who  first  guesses  correctly  clap  their  hands  and 
the  captain  claims  for  his  side  the  two  players  who  were  being 
questioned. 

Two  other  players  are  then  sent  out  and  so  the  game  con- 
tinues. 

The  Games  to  be  found  in  "  The  Syllabus  of  Physical 
Exercises  for  Schools,"  published  by  the  Board  of  Education, 
are  also  most  suitable  games  for  Play  Centres. 

Cricket,  Football,  Rounders  and  Net-ball,  which  are  perhaps 
the  most  popular  games  in  Play  Centres,  need  not  be  described 
here,  as  they  are  so  well  known  to  all. 


APPENDIX  III 

Mr.    Holland's    Report   on    the   Vacation    School,    Passmore 
Edwards  Settlement,  for  1903 

"The  Objects  of  the  School 

"The  School  has  for  its  object  the  giving  of  its  pupils  a  good 
time.  Had  the  children  shown  signs  of  weariness  or  dislike 
we  should  have  at  once  deemed  the  venture  a  failure ;  but  as 
the  opposite  symptoms  were  those  invariably  displayed,  we  have 
naturally  concluded  the  school  was  a  success.  The  school 
aimed  at  giving  the  children  something  to  do  in  place  of  roaming 
listlessly  about  in  street  or  alley,  with  nothing  to  tempt  them  to 
action  save  the  ever-present  opportunity  for  mischief.  Children 
such  as  we  had  cannot  amuse  themselves.  They  have  little 
initiative  and  imagination,  and,  as  a  rule,  unless  acting  under 
guidance,  fail  to  give  their  desire  for  amusement  and  occupa- 
tion suitable  shape.  They  roam  about,  suffering  from  a 
peculiar  childish  ennui,  and  actually  long  for  the  return  of 
the  normal  schooldays  and  the  cessation  of  the  wearisome 
holidays.  The  purpose  of  the  school  was  to  change  all  this. 
It  sought  to  satisfy  the  hunger  for  occupation  by  setting  the 
children  something  to  find  out,  or  something  to  do.  It  sought 
to  care  for  the  physical  well-being  of  the  scholars  by  carefully 
organised  exercises.  It  sought  to  raise  the  children's  ideals 
of  morals  and  conduct  by  direct  and  indirect  instruction. 
It  sought  to  show  the  children  that  coming  to  know  and 
learning  to  do  are,  in  themselves,  some  of  the  truest  of 
pleasures.  It  sought  to  afford  pleasure  chiefly  to  those 
children  who  were  doomed  from  one  cause  or  another  to  re- 
main in  London  throughout  the  vacation  and  so  go  sea-less, 
fresh-air-less,  and  joyless. 

171 


172     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

"  HOW    WE   GOT   THE    CHILDREN 

"  In  both  years  the  children  were  those  of  some  dozen 
neighbouring  schools,  both  Board  and  Voluntary.  Applica- 
tion forms  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  teachers  of  these 
schools,  who  filled  in  the  applications  and  forwarded  them  to 
the  Settlement.  Besides  disposing  of  1500  forms,  we  after- 
wards received  no  less  than  329  personal  applications  for  places. 
There  were  returned  to  us  1352  of  the  1500  forms,  so  that 
altogether  we  had  1681  applications  for  the  750  places,  which 
we  calculated  would  give  us  an  average  attendance  of  600. 
At  the  outset  we  issued  some  750  invitations.  Some  applic- 
ants only  asked  permission  to  attend  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks. 
Some  others  left  through  sickness,  removal,  or  an  unforeseen 
holiday  out  of  town.  These  places  we  filled  as  soon  as  possible 
by  others,  so  that  at  the  close  of  the  session  we  found  that  we 
had  invited  to  the  school  1149  children  for  the  whole  or  for 
part  of  the  time.  We  sought  to  keep  the  number  on  the  roll  at 
about  750,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  actual  figures  have  worked 
out  to  an  average  of  751.  The  children  were  invited  by  card 
of  admission  sent  through  the  post,  and  each  invitation  was 
accompanied  by  a  notice  stating  that  parents  had  liberty  to 
withdraw  their  children  from  the  religious  exercises  if  they 
wished,  but  only  four  applications  for  withdrawal  from  one  or 
other  of  the  forms  of  service  were  sent  in. 

"  Attendance 

"  In  spite  of  many  wet  days — there  were  quite  40  per  cent 
in  both  years — the  average  attendance  throughout  the  last 
session  reached  601  "9.  This  is  equivalent  to  a  percentage  on 
the  average  number  on  the  roll  of  80,  which  must  be  con- 
sidered very  good,  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  no 
machinery  whatever  for  ensuring,  or  inducing,  or  improving 
attendance  was  used,  save  the  constant  replacement  of  scholars 
who  left.  The  ordinary  attractiveness  of  the  work  produced 
this  admirable  result  alone.  The  scholars  were  genuinely 
anxious  to  come.  They  really  liked  the  work  and  were 
often  found  outside  the  gate  more  than  an  hour  before 
the  time  for  opening.  Not  infrequently  they  expressed  the 
liveliest  dissatisfaction  when  they  found  they  had  reached  the 
end  of  the  last  lesson. 


APPENDIX  III  173 

"Assembly  and  Opening  Exercises 

"Each  meeting  of  the  school  in  fine  weather  was  held  in 
the  open  air  in  the  garden  on  the  east  side  of  the  Settlement 
Buildings.  Children  were  admitted  fifteen  minutes  before  the 
hours  of  10  a.m.  and  5  p.m.  Exactly  at  the  hour,  the  door 
was  closed,  a  whistle  was  sounded,  the  scholars  fell  into  lines 
according  to  their  classes,  and  for  the  next  fifteen  minutes  a 
brief  and  simple  religious  service  was  conducted,  on  Mondays, 
Wednesdays,  and  Fridays  by  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England, 
and  on  Tuesdays  and  Thursdays  by  ministers  of  the  Free 
Churches.  The  exercises  included  the  singing  of  a  hymn,  the 
collective  repetition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  recital  of  some 
of  the  Beatitudes,  and  a  brief  address  by  the  officiating  clergy- 
man. In  wet  weather  the  school  assembled  in  the  Gymnasium 
and  the  religious  exercises  were  conducted  there. 

"Curriculum 

"Our  curriculum  embraced  Manual  Training  (including 
Woodwork  for  the  older  boys) ;  Housewifery  and  cooking 
(for  the  older  girls,  and  once  or  twice  for  boys  also) ;  Singing  ; 
Gymnastics  (including  boxing  for  the  older  boys) ;  Musical 
Drill  and  Physical  Exercises  ;  Story-telling  ;  Clay  Modelling  ; 
Dancing ;  Nature  Study  (Botany  and  Zoology  from  Life)  ; 
Brushwork  and  Drawing;  Reading-room  (Story-books); 
Dramatics  (the  pieces  prepared  were  performed  before  the 
whole  school  on  breaking-up  day)  ;  Needlework  (chiefly  Doll- 
dressing)  ;  Basket  Work  and  Cane  Weaving ;  Lantern  Story- 
telling; Ambulance  Work  and  Nursing  (even  to  washing  and 
dressing  a  baby)  ;  Swimming  (for  both  boys  and  girls) ;  and 
last,  but  not  least,  Sand-digging.  With  the  exception  of 
Woodwork,  Housewifery,  Needlework,  and  Cane  Weaving,  the 
lessons  were  only  thirty-five  minutes  each  in  duration.  This 
gave  sufficient  time  without  tiring  the  scholars.  Moreover, 
the  subjects  were  so  arranged  that  a  child  as  far  as  possible 
got  one  lesson  in  the  building  and  one  in  the  garden  alternately. 
A  few  children  who  displayed  special  aptitude  and  expressed 
a  genuine  desire  to  take  up  any  one  particular  subject  were 
allowed  to  spend  as  much  time  as  they  wished  at  that  subject. 


i74     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

"  The  Division  into  Classes 

"  The  children  were  divided  into  ten  classes  according  to 
the  standard  they  had  reached  in  the  ordinary  schools.  The 
ages  ranged  from  five  to  fourteen.  The  two  classes  of 
youngest  children  constituted  a  separate  Kindergarten,  and 
worked  on  a  special  time-table  under  a  responsible  mistress. 
The  work  taken  included  stories,  building,  games,  paper- folding, 
cutting  and  pasting,  nature  study,  chalking,  singing,  colouring, 
clay-modelling,  soap-bubble  blowing,  skipping,  boat-sailing, 
and  other  recreative  occupations — the  delight  of  infant  years. 

"The  Building  axd  Garden 

"Although  not  originally  designed  to  serve  as  a  school,  the 
Settlement  has  such  unique  architectural  and  other  charms  as 
to  more  than  compensate  probably  for  its  slight  inconveniences 
and  ramifications.  The  very  difference  between  it  and  the 
buildings  to  which  the  children  were  ordinarily  accustomed 
has  doubtless  much  to  do  with  the  enjoyment  of  the  scholars 
and  the  success  of  the  experiment.  The  charms  of  the  build- 
ings were  greatly  enhanced  by  the  large,  beautifully  designed, 
neatly  kept,  and  well-wooded  garden  in  its  rear,  and  on  seven 
gravelled  sites  in  this  garden  our  outdoor  lessons  were  given 
when  the  weather  permitted.  Beyond  the  garden  again  was 
a  piece  of  rough  ground — the  site  of  Charles  Dickens'  house — 
on  which  was  our  sand  hill,  where  with  shovel  and  pail  the 
scholars  made  the  most  of  their  sea-less  shore.  An  adequate 
conception  of  the  delight  with  which  the  children  worked  on 
this  sand  could  only  be  gained  by  those  who  saw  them  actually 
engaged  there. 

"The  Change  from  Lesson  to  Lesson 

"  Every  thirty- five  minutes  a  bell  was  rung  throughout  the 
building  and  garden,  and  at  this  signal  all  the  classes  which 
were  not  continuing  the  same  work  during  the  next  period 
were  conducted  by  their  teachers  to  the  place  of  assembly. 
On  their  arrival  the  teachers  placed  themselves  at  the  head  of 
the  squads  indicated  as  theirs  for  the  next  lesson  on  the  time- 
table, and  marched  them  off  to  their  new  work.  This  constant 
gathering  at  a  rendezvous,  although  seemingly  unnecessary  and 


APPENDIX  III  175 

formal,  was  the  best  and  most  economical  method  of  avoiding 
confusion  and  eventual  waste  of  time. 

"The  Staff  and  Voluntary  Helpers 

"  The  classes  had  a  roll  of  some  thirty-seven  or  thirty-eight 
pupils,  of  whom  thirty  or  thirty-one  were,  on  the  average,  pre- 
sent. As  soon  as  this  number  was  exceeded  evidences  began  to 
appear  of  difficulty  in  working,  and  for  vacation  school  pur- 
poses our  experience  shows  that  thirty  in  attendance  must  be 
considered  the  limit.  For  each  of  these  classes  we  provided 
one  whole-time  teacher — except  that,  for  the  Kindergarten, 
three  whole-time  teachers  were  allowed  for  the  roll  of  seventy- 
five  ;  for  the  Woodwork  class  the  boys  only  of  a  normal  class 
(eighteen  or  nineteen  on  roll)  were  deemed  enough  for  one 
teacher,  and  the  girls  to  a  like  number  were  deemed  enough 
for  Cooking  and  Housewifery.  In  addition  to  the  teachers 
in  singing,  dancing,  and  musical  drill,  two  accompanists  were 
provided,  and  in  the  Gymnastic  class  we  had  an  instructor 
for  the  boys  and  an  instructress  for  the  girls.  Over  and  above 
all  these  we  had  a  mistress  who  helped  generally  where  needed. 
This  made  a  staff  equivalent  to  sixteen  whole-time  teachers. 
Each  teacher  was  made  mainly  responsible  for  one  subject 
for  which  she  had  special  qualifications.  The  monotony 
which  this  arrangement  necessarily  involved  was  lessened  by 
the  freedom  which  teachers  were  given  to  exchange  their 
prescribed  work  for  that  of  another  teacher  by  mutual  arrange- 
ment. The  teachers  were  mainly  drawn  from  Secondary  and 
Kindergarten  Training  Centres  and  Schools,  and  some  were 
graduates  of  Universities. 

"  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward,  with  the  assistance  of  her  Secretary, 
Miss  Churcher,  selected  these  teachers,  and  every  one  of  them 
proved  herself  quiet  competent  to  deal  with  her  classes  under 
the  novel  conditions  which  prevailed.  Some  teachers  only 
worked  part  of  the  session  and  no  teacher  had  less  than  one 
week's  clear  holiday  after  the  close  of  the  school,  nearly  all 
having  three  weeks  or  a  month. 

"  The  school  was  organised  on  the  mixed  principle,  and  we 
found  no  difficulty  arising  from  this.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
found  there  were  distinct  advantages.  The  mixture  of  the 
sexes  added  variety  and  charm,  stimulated  interest,  afforded 
excellent  opportunities  of  humanising  lads  and  teaching  them 


176     EVENING  PLAY  CENTRES  FOR  CHILDREN 

politeness,  permitted  brother  and  sister  to  be  frequently  en- 
gaged in  the  same  occupation,  and  accustomed  both  boys  and 
girls  to  live  naturally  in  each  other's  presence  without  ex- 
cess of  bashfulness  on  the  one  hand  or  frivolity  on  the 
other. 

"  Discipline  and  Tone  • 

"  The  comparative  ease  with  which  discipline  was  maintained 
was  most  marked,  and  the  general  tone  of  the  children  left  little 
to  be  desired.  They  were  orderly  in  coming,  orderly  in  as- 
sembling, orderly  in  class,  and  orderly  in  going  home.  They 
were  cheerfully  obedient,  happy  and  free,  hardly  ever  venturing 
to  presume  on  the  kindness  shown  them,  and  invariably  keep- 
ing within  the  bounds  of  reason.  Of  course,  some  few  needed 
stern  words  at  private  interviews,  but  the  fact  that  in  neither 
year  has  a  single  child  had  to  be  expelled  for  unruly  be- 
haviour is  eloquent  testimony  to  the  beneficent  influence  of  the 
school  on  the  child's  holiday  disposition.  The  fact  was,  that 
the  fear  of  expulsion  was  a  very  potent  deterrent  on  would-be 
offenders.  They  so  liked  the  school  that  they  did  not  venture 
to  run  the  risk  of  being  told  not  to  come  again.  Save  this 
threat,  no  form  of  punishment  was  used  whatever. 

"The  Work 

"  Although  the  object  of  the  school  was  primarily  to  give 
pleasure  rather  than  to  make  a  brave  exhibition,  we  found  that 
work  of  exceptionally  good  quality  was  done.  This  was  especi- 
ally true  this  year  of  the  Woodwork,  Nature  Study,  and  Gym- 
nastics. The  children  found  useful  occupation  pleasurable, 
and  a  number  came  to  recognise,  perhaps  for  the  first  time, 
the  blessedness  of  having  something  to  do  worth  doing.  The 
joy  with  which  the  very  little  ones  carried  home  in  triumph 
the  tiny  products  of  their  own  industry  was  only  rivalled  by 
the  genuine  and  healthy  pride  of  the  older  boys  and  girls  when 
they  received  as  gifts  at  the  end  of  the  session  the  results  of 
their  four  weeks'  work  in  the  classes. 

"Apparatus  and  Materials 

"The  school  owed  much  to  the  London  School  Board  for 
the  loan  of  a  complete  Manual  Training  equipment  and  other 


APPENDIX  III  177 

apparatus  and  furniture,  as  also  for  the  supply  at  cost  price 
of  all  consumable  materials.  Without  this  invaluable  aid  the 
experiment  could  not  have  been  carried  out  as  satisfactorily  as 
it  was. 

"  Special  Occasions 

"  The  school  met  on  the  five  school  days  of  the  week,  except 
on  Bank  Holiday,  when  the  school  was  closed,  and  on  the  final 
day  when  the  two  schools  met  in  the  morning  at  10  and  jointly 
witnessed  a  dramatic  and  miscellaneous  display,  including 
drill,  dancing,  singing,  and  the  like.  The  programme  had 
been  given  the  evening  previous  before  the  parents,  all  of 
whom  had  been  invited  to  see  the  school  at  work.  The  grati- 
tude of  the^e  parents  toward  the  promoters  of  the  school  was 
freely  expressed,  and  it  is  difficult  to  decide  who  welcomed 
the  school  the  more,  the  pupils  or  their  mothers  and  fathers. 
On  the  Tuesday  of  the  first  week  of  the  Vacation  School,  a 
meeting  was  held  at  the  Settlement  in  the  afternoon  and  was 
addressed  by  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward,  Sir  William  Anson,  M.P., 
and  Sir  Thomas  Barlow.  Sir  William  Anson  expressed  his 
gratification  that  the  experiment  was  being  repeated,  and 
hoped  its  influence  on  education  would  be  felt  throughout  the 
country." 


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APPENDIX  V 

Total  Attendances  at  the  London  Play  Centres,    1907-18 

Year.  No.  of  Centres.  Attendances. 

1907 10  418,113 

igoS 12  619,521 

1909 13  738,496 

1910 15  933,833 

1911 17  1,170,962 

1912 19  1,322,936 

1913 20  1,510,381 

1914 20  i,752,I73 

1915 21  1,522,716 

1916 21*  1,193,266 

1917 26  1,380,933 

1  Jan.,  1918,  to  31  Mar.,  1918        .        .        28  400,988 

31  Mar.,  1918,  to  31  Mar.,  1919    .         .         32  1,709,278 

*  Two  of  these  Centres  were  closed  in  the  autumn. 


18' 


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